VacationSelector
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley

Photos: Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License; Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lucerne or Mendoza?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Mendoza for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Mendoza’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, Mendoza 6: Lucerne leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Lucerne 35, Mendoza 68: Mendoza leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Lucerne 58, Mendoza 30: Lucerne leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Lucerne 28, Mendoza 40: Mendoza leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lucerne 92, Mendoza 83: Lucerne leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Lucerne 78, Mendoza 52: Lucerne leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Lucerne 66, Mendoza 42: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Lucerne 86, Mendoza 48: Lucerne leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Lucerne 46, Mendoza 33: Lucerne leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Lucerne 8, Mendoza 56: Mendoza leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lucerne 66, Mendoza 33: Lucerne leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lucerne 46, Mendoza 55: Mendoza leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lucerne and Mendoza.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Mendoza
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LucerneMendoza

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..

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). Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLucerneMendoza
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112117 or 911
Elevation436 m769 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLucerneMendoza
City population86,234127,160
People per km²2,9632,355
Museums within 10 km141
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 Mendoza 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.