VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lisbon or Zurich?

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 Lisbon for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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. Lisbon 50, Zurich 45: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Zurich 53: Lisbon leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Zurich 58: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Zurich 62: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Zurich 3: Lisbon leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lisbon and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Lisbon
65match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonZurich
Official languagePortugueseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m408 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonZurich
City population545,796440,935
People per km²5,4535,016
Museums within 10 km8063
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon or Zurich 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.