VacationSelector
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Montreal 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 Montreal for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zurich for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

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. Montreal 25, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Montreal 78, Zurich 53: Montreal leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Montreal 60, Zurich 58: Montreal leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Montreal 75, Zurich 62: Montreal leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montreal 66, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Montreal 55, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Montreal 68, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Montreal 72, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Montreal 60, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Montreal 45, Zurich 3: Montreal leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montreal 76, Zurich 70: Montreal leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montreal 57, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montreal and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Montreal
61match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on day trips 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.

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MontrealZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontrealZurich
Official languageFrench, EnglishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation31 m408 m
Main airportMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontrealZurich
City population1,895,211440,935
People per km²3,8065,016
Museums within 10 km3763
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 Montreal 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.