VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Sydney 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 Sydney for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Zurich for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • wellness

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. Sydney 95, Zurich 45: Sydney leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Zurich 53: Sydney leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Zurich 58: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Zurich 80: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Sydney 50, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Sydney 75, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Zurich 66: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Zurich 3: Sydney leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Zurich 70: Sydney leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sydney and Zurich.

Your match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on day trips 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.

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyZurich
Official languageEnglishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation6 m408 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyZurich
City population5,450,496440,935
People per km²4495,016
Museums within 10 km3863
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sydney 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). 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.