VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or Rome?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Jerusalem for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’s own page.

Choose Rome for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Jerusalem 40, Rome 50: Rome leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Rome 82: Rome leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Rome 99: Rome leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Rome 58: Rome leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Rome 58: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Rome 92: Rome leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Rome 50: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Rome 60: Rome leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Rome 72: Rome leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Rome 38: Rome leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Rome 68: Rome leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Rome 40: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Rome.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemRome

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemRome
Official languageHebrewItalian
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102112
Elevation754 m21 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemRome
City population1,050,1512,748,109
People per km²8,3742,135
Museums within 10 km69178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km77
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or Rome somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.