VacationSelector

Palermo or Varanasi?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
Palermo

Photo: Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Palermo
✓ Best match
62
match

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

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

PalermoVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Palermo leads by 73 points.73
Food & drink. Palermo leads by 26 points.26
Culture & sights. Palermo and Varanasi are level on 80.
Nightlife. Palermo leads by 48 points.48
Nature & outdoors. Palermo leads by 54 points.54
Day trips. Palermo leads by 42 points.42
Good for families. Palermo leads by 39 points.39
Getting around. Palermo leads by 22 points.22
Shopping & style. Varanasi leads by 11 points.11
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 29 points.29
Live music & performing arts. Palermo leads by 4 points.4
Wellness & relaxation. Palermo and Varanasi are level on 30.
0255075100

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

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyPalermoVaranasi
Daytime high28 °C35 °C
Night-time low21 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month4 mm249 mm
Sunshine11 hours a dayNo figure
Sea temperature26 °CNo sea
Daylight15 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Palermo
13
13
14
16
20
24
28
28
25
21
17
14
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Sea temperature, °C
Palermo
15
14
15
16
19
22
26
27
25
23
20
17
Varanasi
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Palermo
48
45
35
35
18
9
4
11
37
67
71
69
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Palermo
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
11
10
10
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11
Sunshine, hours per day
Palermo
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
10
8
7
5
4
Varanasi
No sunshine record

Where the figures come from

Palermo's temperatures are measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Palermo's station stands 236 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palermo: 1961-1990 normals, Ustica (66.8 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasurePalermoVaranasi
Official languageItalianHindi, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation14 m76 m
Main airportFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasurePalermoVaranasi
City population630,1671,198,491
People per km²3,92414,598
Museums within 10 km422
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Palermo or Varanasi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.