VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Montpellier 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 Montpellier for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • wellness

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. Montpellier 64, Zurich 45: Montpellier leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Zurich 53: Montpellier leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Zurich 58: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Zurich 84: Montpellier leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Zurich 3: Montpellier leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Montpellier
62match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MontpellierZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierZurich
Official languageFrenchFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m408 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierZurich
City population310,240440,935
People per km²5,4525,016
Museums within 10 km1463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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