VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • 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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Zurich 45: Rio de Janeiro leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Zurich 53: Rio de Janeiro leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Zurich 58: Rio de Janeiro leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Zurich 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Zurich 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Zurich 3: Rio de Janeiro leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 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: Rio de Janeiro 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

Rio de Janeiro
62match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroZurich

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroZurich
Official languagePortugueseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCN60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112
Elevation31 m408 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroZurich
City population6,211,223440,935
People per km²4,9305,016
Museums within 10 km6963
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or Zurich somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.