VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Rome or Valencia?

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

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Valencia for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Valencia 74: Rome leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Valencia 68: Rome leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Valencia 70: Rome leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Valencia 57: Rome leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Valencia 55: Rome leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Valencia 42: Valencia leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Rome
64match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Valencia
65match

Wins on beaches 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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeValencia

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). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeValencia
Official languageItalianSpanish
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 m15 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeValencia
City population2,748,109840,792
People per km²2,1356,242
Museums within 10 km17845
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km72
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome or Valencia 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.