VacationSelector
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Palermo or Split?

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 Palermo for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Split for

  • getting around
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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. Palermo 77, Split 75: Palermo leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Palermo 81, Split 57: Palermo leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Palermo 80, Split 66: Palermo leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Palermo 58, Split 52: Palermo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palermo 72, Split 77: Split leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Palermo 84, Split 78: Palermo leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Palermo 44, Split 54: Split leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Palermo 50, Split 67: Split leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Palermo 44, Split 32: Palermo leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Palermo 63, Split 45: Palermo leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palermo 62, Split 37: Palermo leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palermo 30, Split 40: Split leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palermo and Split.

Your match

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

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Split
57match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PalermoSplit

Where the figures come from

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalermoSplit
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
Elevation14 m0 m
Main airportFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalermoSplit
City population630,167160,577
People per km²3,924-
Museums within 10 km4211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Palermo or Split 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. 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.