VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zurich for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • getting around

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. Osaka 34, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Zurich 53: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Zurich 58: Osaka leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Zurich 62: Osaka leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Zurich 84: Osaka leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Zurich 76: Osaka leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Zurich 66: Osaka leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Zurich 3: Osaka leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Zurich 58: Osaka leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Zurich.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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
OsakaZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaZurich
Official languageJapaneseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYen (JPY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation20 m408 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaZurich
City population2,751,862440,935
People per km²12,3405,016
Museums within 10 km4463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Osaka 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.