VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Rome or York?

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
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose York for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: Rome leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, York 42: Rome leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, York 70: Rome leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, York 36: Rome leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, York 62: York leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, York 80: Rome leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, York 60: York leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, York 72: York leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, York 46: Rome leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Rome and York are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, York 38: Rome leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, York 34: Rome leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

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 beaches with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on getting around 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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeYork

Where the figures come from

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

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeYork
Official languageItalianEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation21 m25 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeYork
City population2,748,109208,400
People per km²2,135766
Museums within 10 km17824
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km72
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 York 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.