VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or San Jose?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose San Jose for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, San Jose 56: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, San Jose 36: Jerusalem leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, San Jose 33: Jerusalem leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, San Jose 78: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, San Jose 30: Jerusalem leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem and San Jose are level on 48.
Affordability. Jerusalem and San Jose are level on 20.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, San Jose 38: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, San Jose 30: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemSan Jose

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSan Jose
Official languageHebrew-
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102911
Elevation754 m25 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSan Jose
City population1,050,1511,013,240
People per km²8,3742,167
Museums within 10 km6919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or San Jose 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. 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.