VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. New Orleans 14, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Zurich 53: New Orleans leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Zurich 58: New Orleans leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Zurich 62: New Orleans leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 38 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 12 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Zurich 3: New Orleans leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Zurich 70: New Orleans leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Zurich.

Your match

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

New Orleans
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansZurich
Official language-French, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation-2 m408 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansZurich
City population383,997440,935
People per km²4235,016
Museums within 10 km1663
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New Orleans 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). 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.