VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seattle or Zagreb?

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 Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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. Seattle 30, Zagreb 10: Seattle leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Zagreb 55: Seattle leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Zagreb 47: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Zagreb 62: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Zagreb 52: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Zagreb 40: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Zagreb 52: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Zagreb 33: Seattle leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SeattleZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleZagreb
Official language-Croatian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation40 m127 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleZagreb
City population737,015767,131
People per km²1,996-
Museums within 10 km2727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seattle or Zagreb 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.