VacationSelector
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Salzburg or Washington DC?

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 Salzburg for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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. Salzburg 35, Washington DC 12: Salzburg leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Salzburg 45, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Salzburg 72, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Salzburg 25, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salzburg 86, Washington DC 64: Salzburg leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Salzburg 80, Washington DC 73: Salzburg leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Salzburg 65, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Salzburg and Washington DC are level on 72.
Shopping & style. Salzburg 48, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Salzburg 32, Washington DC 28: Salzburg leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salzburg 80, Washington DC 67: Salzburg leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salzburg 55, Washington DC 26: Salzburg leads by 29 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salzburg and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Salzburg
58match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SalzburgWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalzburgWashington DC
Official languageGerman, Austrian Sign Language-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation424 m72 m
Main airportSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalzburgWashington DC
City population155,021689,545
People per km²2,3603,896
Museums within 10 km3898
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Salzburg or Washington DC 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.