VacationSelector
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Palermo 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 Palermo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • families
  • 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. Palermo 77, Zurich 45: Palermo leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Palermo 81, Zurich 53: Palermo leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Palermo 80, Zurich 58: Palermo leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Palermo 58, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palermo 72, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Palermo and Zurich are level on 84.
Good for families. Palermo 44, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Palermo 50, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Palermo 44, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Palermo 63, Zurich 3: Palermo leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palermo 62, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palermo 30, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palermo and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Palermo
62match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

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

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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PalermoZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalermoZurich
Official languageItalianFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m408 m
Main airportFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalermoZurich
City population630,167440,935
People per km²3,9245,016
Museums within 10 km4263
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 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). 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. 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.

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.