VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Jerusalem or Seattle?

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
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem and Seattle are level on 66.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Seattle 50: Jerusalem leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Seattle 55: Jerusalem leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Seattle 22: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Seattle 40: Jerusalem leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Seattle.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSeattle
City population1,050,151737,015
People per km²8,3741,996
Museums within 10 km6927
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 Seattle 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.