VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Santiago de Compostela 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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’s own page.

Choose Zurich for

  • families
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Santiago de Compostela 32, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Zurich 53: Santiago de Compostela leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Zurich 58: Santiago de Compostela leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Zurich 3: Santiago de Compostela leads by 61 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela 40, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Zurich.

Your match

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

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santiago de CompostelaZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation260 m408 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaZurich
City population100,965440,935
People per km²4595,016
Museums within 10 km663
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela or Zurich 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.