VacationSelector
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lucerne or Sedona?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sedona for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Lucerne leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Lucerne 35, Sedona 33: Lucerne leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Lucerne 58, Sedona 20: Lucerne leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Lucerne 28, Sedona 8: Lucerne leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lucerne 92, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Lucerne 78, Sedona 55: Lucerne leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Lucerne 66, Sedona 42: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Lucerne 86, Sedona 22: Lucerne leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Lucerne 46, Sedona 34: Lucerne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Lucerne 8, Sedona 18: Sedona leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lucerne 66, Sedona 13: Lucerne leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lucerne 46, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 36 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lucerne and Sedona.

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.

Sedona
36match

Wins on wellness and prices 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

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LucerneSedona

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..

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLucerneSedona
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, Romansh-
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation436 m1,319 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLucerneSedona
City population86,2349,684
People per km²2,963195
Museums within 10 km140
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 Sedona 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.