VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Paris or Siena?

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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Siena for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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. Paris 9, Siena 14: Siena leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, Siena 62: Paris leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, Siena 78: Paris leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, Siena 27: Paris leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, Siena 65: Siena leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, Siena 94: Siena leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, Siena 38: Paris leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, Siena 60: Paris leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, Siena 35: Paris leads by 63 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, Siena 42: Siena leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, Siena 36: Paris leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, Siena 55: Siena leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Siena
51match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ParisSiena

Where the figures come from

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisSiena
Official languageFrenchItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation27 m322 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisSiena
City population2,103,77852,812
People per km²19,960446
Museums within 10 km25130
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km45

Where else could you go?

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