VacationSelector
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lucerne or Medellin?

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 Lucerne for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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. Lucerne 35, Medellin 5: Lucerne leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Lucerne 35, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Lucerne 58, Medellin 42: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Lucerne 28, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lucerne 92, Medellin 66: Lucerne leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Lucerne 78, Medellin 58: Lucerne leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Lucerne 66, Medellin 50: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Lucerne 86, Medellin 55: Lucerne leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Lucerne 46, Medellin 45: Lucerne leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Lucerne 8, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lucerne 66, Medellin 42: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lucerne 46, Medellin 30: Lucerne leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lucerne and Medellin.

Your match

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

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
LucerneMedellin

Where the figures come from

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Medellin 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. Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLucerneMedellin
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation436 m1,405 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureLucerneMedellin
City population86,2342,529,403
People per km²2,9636,644
Museums within 10 km1414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lucerne or Medellin 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.