Portland or Zurich?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on year-round weather and value for money with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration 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.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Portland and Zurich are level on 0.
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 27 | 23 |
| Coast distance | 69 km | 632 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Portland leads by 7 points.7
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 67 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,011 | 974 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 44 | 30 |
Museums & heritage. Zurich leads by 21 points.21
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 23 | 76 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 15 | 37 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 65 | 49 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
Nightlife. Portland leads by 4 points.4
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 54 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 942 | 676 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 518 | 553 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 55 | 82 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 32 | 74 |
Nature & day trips. Zurich leads by 2 points.2
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 37 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 13 | 16 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 3 | 9 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 37 hectares | 48 hectares |
Good for families. Zurich leads by 2 points.2
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 34 | 36 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 8 | 8 |
| Park area within 2 km | 37 hectares | 48 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Zurich leads by 24 points.24
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 59 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 29 | 119 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Portland leads by 8 points.8
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 35 |
| Price level global | 100 | 110.5 |
| Daily budget | — | €248 |
Year-round weather. Portland leads by 12 points.12
| Portland | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 65 | 53 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.9 °C to 27.7 °C | 3.6 °C to 24.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 13 mm to 145 mm | 60 mm to 128 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 0 |
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. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Portland | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 9 h 55 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 35 m €110-163 ZRH · 9 km |
| Los AngelesLAX, BUR, SNA, VNY | 2 h 15 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 11 h 55 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 5 h 20 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 8 h 5 m €606-782 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 3 h 55 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 9 h 5 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 10 h 5 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 25 m €234-276 ZRH · 9 km |
| San FranciscoSFO | 1 h 45 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 11 h 40 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 10 h 30 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 0 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| MiamiMIA, OPF | 5 h 45 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 9 h 55 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| DallasDFW, DAL, AFW | 3 h 45 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 10 h 35 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| Las VegasLAS | 2 h 5 m €173-370 PDX · 10 km | 11 h 25 m no fares ZRH · 9 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 2026-09, 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 | Portland | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | – | French, German, Italian, Romansh |
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | Swiss Franc (CHF) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | CJ230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 112 |
| Elevation | 152 m | 408 m |
| Main airport | Portland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre87 non-stop destinations | Zürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre181 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Portland | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 652,503 | 452,421 |
| People per km² | 1,736 | 5,147 |
| Museums within 10 km | 17 | 63 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 82 | 78 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland or Zurich somewhere new.