VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Medellin or Zurich?

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 Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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. Medellin 5, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Zurich 53: Medellin leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Zurich 62: Medellin leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Zurich 3: Medellin leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 28 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Medellin in July

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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinZurich

Where the figures come from

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. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation1,405 m408 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinZurich
City population2,529,403440,935
People per km²6,6445,016
Museums within 10 km1463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Zurich 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.