Palermo or Verona?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on beaches & swimming and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on good for families and museums & heritage with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Palermo if the sea matters: 13 beaches close by, water warm enough to swim in from late spring to autumn, dry summers and more going on after dark.
Choose Verona if you are travelling with children or want heritage within day-trip reach: far more attractions in the centre, theme parks nearby, and no coast to miss out on.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Palermo leads by 67 points.67
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 5 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 13 | 2 |
| Coast distance | 1 km | 104 km |
| Water distance | 1 km | — |
Places to eat. Palermo leads by 7 points.7
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 43 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 807 | 477 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 13 | 13 |
Museums & heritage. Verona leads by 6 points.6
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 32 | 20 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 26 | 19 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 81 | 95 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
Nightlife. Palermo leads by 13 points.13
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 40 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 799 | 416 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 515 | 269 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 64 | 65 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 16 | 9 |
Nature & day trips. Palermo and Verona are level on 36.
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 36 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 4 | 9 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 45 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 63 hectares | 59 hectares |
Good for families. Verona leads by 28 points.28
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 41 | 69 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 16 | 62 |
| Park area within 2 km | 63 hectares | 59 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 4 |
Sights concentration. Palermo leads by 4 points.4
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 57 | 53 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 104 | 82 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Palermo and Verona are level on 68.
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Palermo leads by 12 points.12
| Palermo | Verona | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 77 | 65 |
| Monthly daytime high | 12.6 °C to 27.8 °C | 6.8 °C to 30.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 4 mm to 71 mm | 38 mm to 85 mm |
| Dry months | 7 | 1 |
Where they differ
Palermo has 13 beaches nearby against Verona's 2, and a sea warm enough to swim in for five months of the year, which Verona cannot match at all. Evenings are broader too, with a wider spread of bars and clubs, most of them near the centre. It is also the drier city, with 7 months at 40mm of rain or less.
Verona is the stronger choice with children: about three times as many attractions in the centre and 4 theme parks within reach, where Palermo has none.
Where they are alike
Nature and day trips are the closest match. Protected land runs at 9% around Verona and 4% around Palermo, but both have a similar amount of park space near the centre.
The two are also close on museums, sights and eating. Palermo has more museums and more restaurants near its centre, Verona has 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Palermo's 1, and in both, the notable places sit within walking distance.
Which traveller are you?
Anyone travelling for the water should take Palermo: 13 beaches nearby and a sea reaching 27°C at its warmest, against a city where swimming is not part of the trip at all.
Families are better served in Verona, with roughly three times as many attractions in the central area and 4 theme parks within reach, plus 5 UNESCO-listed places close enough for day trips.
Anyone who plans the day around meals and late evenings should pick Palermo: more restaurants near the centre than Verona has, and more bars and clubs too, most of them walkable.
What the numbers don't tell you
The two carry the same value figure because it is a national price level rather than a measurement of either city, so the comparison tells you nothing about which is cheaper. The €155 daily budget beside it is a single national estimate; treat it as a rough guide, not a trait of either city.
Palermo's swimming advantage is concentrated in the months when it is hottest and driest, so sea and crowds arrive together; outside that window the water falls to 15-17°C. Verona's family strength counts attractions and theme parks, which say nothing about queues or quality, and its warmest months are also among its wettest, at 62-72mm.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palermo: 1961-1990 normals, Ustica (66.8 km from centre). Verona: 1991-2020 normals, Verona / Villafranca (11.6 km from centre).
Palermo's best run is June to September: highs of 24-28°C, sea at 22-27°C and a summer that is essentially rainless. Autumn stays swimmable but turns wet, with 67mm in October, and winter is mild rather than cold.
Verona is at its most comfortable in May and September, both near 25°C. Rain falls there all year, so September brings 85mm and even midsummer is not dry. Peak heat reaches 30°C, and January drops to 7°C, which rules out much outdoor time.
Getting there
| Flying from | Palermo | Verona |
|---|---|---|
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 10 m €40-52 PMO · 25 km | 1 h 10 m €102-144 1 stop VRN · 10 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 50 m no fares PMO · 25 km | 1 h 55 m no fares VRN · 10 km |
| ViennaVIE | 2 h 0 m €114-166 1 stop PMO · 25 km | 1 h 10 m €65-121 VCE · 106 km |
| ZurichZRH | 1 h 55 m €161-283 1 stop PMO · 25 km | 1 h 5 m no fares VCE · 106 km |
| NaplesNAP | 1 h 0 m €42-84 PMO · 25 km | 1 h 20 m no fares VRN · 10 km |
| BucharestOTP, BBU | 2 h 10 m no fares PMO · 25 km | 1 h 55 m €50-66 TSF · 96 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 15 m €183-194 PMO · 25 km | 2 h 25 m €172-262 1 stop VRN · 10 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 2 h 25 m €101-135 PMO · 25 km | 1 h 35 m no fares VRN · 10 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 9 h 5 m no fares PMO · 25 km | 8 h 30 m €637-650 VCE · 106 km |
| Sharm el SheikhSSH | 3 h 20 m no fares PMO · 25 km | 4 h 0 m no fares VRN · 10 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Palermo | Verona |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Italian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 14 m | 59 m |
| Main airport | Falcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre103 non-stop destinations | Verona Villafranca Valerio Catullo Airport (VRN)10 km from centre86 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Palermo | Verona |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 630,167 | 255,588 |
| People per km² | 3,924 | 1,285 |
| Museums within 10 km | 42 | 18 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 33 | 35 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 5 months | – |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Palermo or Verona somewhere new.