VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or Siena?

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

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • families

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

Choose Siena for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Jerusalem leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Siena 62: Jerusalem leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Siena 78: Jerusalem leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Siena 27: Jerusalem leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Siena 65: Siena leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Siena 94: Siena leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Siena 38: Jerusalem leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Siena 60: Siena leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Siena 35: Jerusalem leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Siena 42: Siena leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Siena 36: Jerusalem leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Siena 55: Siena leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Siena.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Siena
51match

Wins on prices and day trips 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

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemSiena

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.

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSiena
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 m322 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSiena
City population1,050,15152,812
People per km²8,374446
Museums within 10 km6930
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km75
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

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