VacationSelector
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock
Cliff-top hotels above the harbour, Sorrento
SorrentoCliff-top hotels above the harbour

Photos: Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Petra or Sorrento?

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 Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Sorrento for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’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. Petra 5, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Petra 22, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Petra 85, Sorrento 32: Petra leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Petra 5, Sorrento 28: Sorrento leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Petra 78, Sorrento 80: Sorrento leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Petra 30, Sorrento 95: Sorrento leads by 65 points.
Good for families. Petra 25, Sorrento 42: Sorrento leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Petra 25, Sorrento 58: Sorrento leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Petra 18, Sorrento 38: Sorrento leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Petra 45, Sorrento 32: Petra leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Petra 10, Sorrento 20: Sorrento leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Petra 28, Sorrento 48: Sorrento leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Petra and Sorrento.

Your match

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

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sorrento
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Sorrento in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
PetraSorrento

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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.

Sorrento 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.

Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre). Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePetraSorrento
Official languageArabicItalian
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation850 m50 m
Main airportKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePetraSorrento
City population-15,407
People per km²-1,541
Museums within 10 km26
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Petra or Sorrento 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.