VacationSelector
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Lucerne or Ushuaia?

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

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Lucerne leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Lucerne 35, Ushuaia 40: Ushuaia leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Lucerne 58, Ushuaia 22: Lucerne leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Lucerne 28, Ushuaia 18: Lucerne leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lucerne 92, Ushuaia 88: Lucerne leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Lucerne 78, Ushuaia 14: Lucerne leads by 64 points.
Good for families. Lucerne 66, Ushuaia 40: Lucerne leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Lucerne 86, Ushuaia 45: Lucerne leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Lucerne 46, Ushuaia 22: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Lucerne 8, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lucerne 66, Ushuaia 10: Lucerne leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lucerne 46, Ushuaia 26: Lucerne leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lucerne and Ushuaia.

Your match

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

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LucerneUshuaia

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). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLucerneUshuaia
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 m23 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLucerneUshuaia
City population86,23482,615
People per km²2,9633,592
Museums within 10 km145
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 Ushuaia 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.