VacationSelector
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Milan or Zagreb?

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 Milan for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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. Milan 20, Zagreb 10: Milan leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Milan 78, Zagreb 55: Milan leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Milan 78, Zagreb 56: Milan leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Milan 66, Zagreb 47: Milan leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Milan 65, Zagreb 62: Milan leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Milan 91, Zagreb 60: Milan leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Milan 55, Zagreb 52: Milan leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Milan 79, Zagreb 70: Milan leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Milan 92, Zagreb 40: Milan leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Milan 33, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Milan 82, Zagreb 52: Milan leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Milan 42, Zagreb 33: Milan leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Milan and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Milan
Best match
65match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MilanZagreb

Where the figures come from

Milan 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.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMilanZagreb
Official languageItalianCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation138 m127 m
Main airportMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMilanZagreb
City population1,354,196767,131
People per km²7,453-
Museums within 10 km8827
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Milan or Zagreb 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.