VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License.

Rome or Salzburg?

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 Rome for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Salzburg for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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. Rome 50, Salzburg 35: Rome leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Salzburg 45: Rome leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Salzburg 72: Rome leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Salzburg 25: Rome leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Salzburg 86: Salzburg leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Salzburg 80: Rome leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Salzburg 65: Salzburg leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Salzburg 72: Salzburg leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Salzburg 48: Rome leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Salzburg 32: Rome leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Salzburg 55: Salzburg leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Salzburg.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

Salzburg
58match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
RomeSalzburg

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSalzburg
Official languageItalianGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m424 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSalzburg
City population2,748,109155,021
People per km²2,1352,360
Museums within 10 km17838
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km73
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 Rome or Salzburg 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. 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.