La Spezia or Salzburg?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration and good for families with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose La Spezia if the trip is built around swimming and warmth: 32 beaches nearby and a sea reaching 25°C in August, with the driest weather falling at the height of summer.
Choose Salzburg if you want a compact centre where museums, attractions and family outings sit close together, and would rather have summer highs near 25°C than real heat.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. La Spezia leads by 73 points.73
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 4 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 32 | 9 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 653 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | — |
Places to eat. Salzburg leads by 18 points.18
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 31 | 49 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 235 | 348 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 11 | 23 |
Museums & heritage. Salzburg leads by 18 points.18
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 42 | 60 |
| Museums within 10 km | 15 | 42 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 10 | 27 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 67 | 64 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 3 |
Nightlife. Salzburg leads by 12 points.12
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 24 | 36 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 208 | 294 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 176 | 241 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 85 | 82 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 1 | 16 |
Nature & day trips. La Spezia leads by 25 points.25
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 52 | 27 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 13 | 6 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 51 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 23 hectares | 39 hectares |
Good for families. Salzburg leads by 28 points.28
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 20 | 48 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 3 | 17 |
| Park area within 2 km | 23 hectares | 39 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 4 |
Sights concentration. Salzburg leads by 39 points.39
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 7 | 46 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 6 | 54 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. La Spezia leads by 9 points.9
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 59 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 76.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €160 |
Year-round weather. La Spezia leads by 16 points.16
| La Spezia | Salzburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 54 |
| Monthly daytime high | 11.4 °C to 30.3 °C | 3.4 °C to 24.9 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 32 mm to 132 mm | 47 mm to 168 mm |
| Dry months | 2 | 0 |
Where they differ
La Spezia has 32 beaches nearby against Salzburg's 9, and four months when the sea sits at 21°C or warmer, which Salzburg has none of. More of the surrounding land is protected as well, 13% against 6%, so open country is closer to hand.
Salzburg packs many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, so days need less planning. It also suits children better: far more attractions near the centre, about twice as much park space, and 4 theme parks within reach against 2.
Where they are alike
The two national daily estimates sit close together, €155 and €160, so cost is unlikely to be what decides between them.
Nightlife and eating out are modest on both sides and largely a centre-of-town affair: in each city, the places to drink cluster near the middle rather than spreading out. Salzburg has somewhat more of them, and a wider range of kitchens, but in neither is the evening the main reason to come.
Which traveller are you?
Anyone whose holiday means swimming should take La Spezia: 32 beaches nearby, a sea warm enough for four months, and more protected land around the town for days spent walking rather than sitting.
For museums and heritage, Salzburg has considerably more of them, plus 3 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against 2, and its notable sights sit close enough together to cover on foot.
Families with children will find more laid on in Salzburg: many more attractions near the centre, about twice as much park space, and 4 theme parks within reach against La Spezia's 2.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget figures are national estimates of restaurant and hotel prices, one per country, not measurements of either city. A heavily visited town can sit well above its own national average, by more than the gap between these two estimates, so neither reads here as the cheaper trip.
La Spezia's beach advantage is concentrated in time: the sea is 21°C or warmer for four months only, and the driest, warmest weeks are the ones everyone else books. The shoulder is not a simple fix, with 125-132mm in October and November. Salzburg's warmest months are its wettest, so its indoor offering is less an option than a necessity.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. La Spezia: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (64.8 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).
La Spezia peaks from June to August: highs of 27-30°C, sea at 22-25°C and the year's driest stretch at 32-41mm a month. Autumn turns wet, 102-132mm across September to November, although the sea still holds 23°C early in that run.
Salzburg's warm window, June to August, is also its wettest at 159-168mm a month, so indoor days need building in. September is milder at 20°C with 127mm, and midwinter highs of 3-6°C limit what an outdoor day can be.
Getting there
| Flying from | La Spezia | Salzburg |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 5 m €48-62 PSA · 65 km | 1 h 55 m €186-283 SZG · 3 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 40 m no fares PSA · 65 km | 1 h 30 m €183-250 MUC · 112 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 10 m no fares GOA · 86 km | 1 h 30 m €141-202 MUC · 112 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 5 m €88-193 PSA · 65 km | 2 h 25 m €227-312 1 stop MUC · 112 km |
| TiranaTIA | 1 h 35 m no fares PSA · 65 km | 1 h 50 m no fares MUC · 112 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 25 m no fares GOA · 86 km | 1 h 55 m €166-216 MUC · 112 km |
| BrusselsBRU, CRL | 1 h 45 m no fares PSA · 65 km | 1 h 20 m no fares MUC · 112 km |
| AthensATH | 2 h 10 m no fares BLQ · 125 km | 2 h 25 m no fares MUC · 112 km |
| PalermoPMO | 1 h 25 m no fares PSA · 65 km | 2 h 0 m no fares MUC · 112 km |
| MarrakechRAK | 3 h 10 m no fares PSA · 65 km | 3 h 35 m no fares MUC · 112 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-09, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | La Spezia | Salzburg |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | German, Austrian Sign Language |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 3 m | 424 m |
| Main airport | Pisa International Airport (PSA)65 km from centre81 non-stop destinations | Salzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre62 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | La Spezia | Salzburg |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 92,119 | 155,021 |
| People per km² | 1,792 | 2,360 |
| Museums within 10 km | 12 | 38 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 22 | 50 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | – |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow La Spezia or Salzburg somewhere new.