VacationSelector
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Lucerne or The Hague?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose The Hague for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: The Hague leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Lucerne 35, The Hague 48: The Hague leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Lucerne 58, The Hague 66: The Hague leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Lucerne 28, The Hague 38: The Hague leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lucerne 92, The Hague 52: Lucerne leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Lucerne 78, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Lucerne 66, The Hague 72: The Hague leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Lucerne 86, The Hague 78: Lucerne leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Lucerne 46, The Hague 55: The Hague leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Lucerne 8, The Hague 35: The Hague leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lucerne 66, The Hague 58: Lucerne leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lucerne 46, The Hague 45: Lucerne leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Lucerne
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

The Hague
56match

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
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LucerneThe Hague

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..

The Hague 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.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

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). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLucerneThe Hague
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshDutch
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation436 m1 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLucerneThe Hague
City population86,234548,320
People per km²2,9635,589
Museums within 10 km1454
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lucerne or The Hague 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.