Turin or Zurich?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on value for money and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips and sights concentration with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Turin if museums near the centre and plenty of places to drink matter most, along with the warmer year of the two and more park space for children.
Choose Zurich if you want countryside within reach, with 16% of surrounding land protected, more notable places on foot from the centre, a wider range of kitchens and 2 theme parks for families.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Turin and Zurich are level on 0.
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 23 |
| Coast distance | 105 km | 632 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Zurich leads by 3 points.3
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64 | 67 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,198 | 974 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 21 | 30 |
Museums & heritage. Turin leads by 12 points.12
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 65 | 76 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 39 | 37 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 60 | 49 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 4 | 1 |
Nightlife. Turin leads by 12 points.12
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 66 | 54 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 1,375 | 676 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 768 | 553 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 56 | 82 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 57 | 74 |
Nature & day trips. Zurich leads by 4 points.4
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 33 | 37 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 6 | 16 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 9 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 72 hectares | 48 hectares |
Good for families. Turin leads by 17 points.17
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 36 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 36 | 8 |
| Park area within 2 km | 72 hectares | 48 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Zurich leads by 4 points.4
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 59 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 92 | 119 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Turin leads by 33 points.33
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 35 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 110.5 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €248 |
Year-round weather. Turin leads by 11 points.11
| Turin | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64 | 53 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.1 °C to 28.5 °C | 3.6 °C to 24.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 44 mm to 127 mm | 60 mm to 128 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Turin has about twice as many places to drink as Zurich, more park space near the centre, and many times as many attractions near it, which counts for families. Its museums cluster tightly around the centre, and 4 UNESCO-listed places lie within day-trip reach against Zurich's 1. Italy's national daily estimate is €155.
Zurich counts somewhat more museums and more nightclubs, most near the centre, plus 2 theme parks within reach where Turin has none. 16% of the surrounding land is protected against 6% around Turin. Switzerland's estimate is €248.
Where they are alike
Both cities eat well. Turin has somewhat more restaurants near the centre, Zurich a somewhat wider range of kitchens, so neither leaves you short of choice within walking distance.
They are also alike on what lies around them and how compactly the centres are arranged: notable places sit within walking distance in both, Zurich with somewhat more, and neither is built around day trips. Neither is a swimming destination: neither has a month of sea at 21°C or more.
Which traveller are you?
Families are better served in Turin: many more attractions near the centre and more park space to break up the day. Zurich's counter is 2 theme parks within reach, which Turin lacks entirely.
Anyone here for museums and evenings out should take Turin, where places to drink are about twice as numerous and the museums cluster near the centre, with 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach.
A walker who eats well and wants countryside on the doorstep leans to Zurich: a wider range of kitchens, more notable places on foot from the centre, and 16% of the surrounding land protected.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget figures, €155 and €248, are national estimates for Italy and Switzerland, not measurements of Turin or Zurich. A large city can sit well away from its own country's average, by more than the gap between the two figures, so they tell you little about what either trip costs.
No sunshine figure exists for Turin, so that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured rather than poor. And the warmest months are also among the wettest: Zurich's summer runs near 126mm, and Turin's mild autumn brings its heaviest rain, so a warm month is not a dry one.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Turin: 1991-2020 normals, Torino / Caselle (15.4 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).
Turin is the stronger pick from June to September, with daytime highs of 26-29°C and midsummer its driest stretch, down to 57mm. Its autumn is the wet season, peaking at 127mm in November, so later trips need a plan for rain.
Zurich's window is narrower: July and August reach 24°C but bring 119-126mm of rain, so warm here does not mean dry. Winter is the clearer contrast, with highs near 4°C in January against Turin's milder start to the year.
Getting there
| Flying from | Turin | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 15 m €542-635 1 stop MXP · 103 km | 8 h 5 m €606-782 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 45 m no fares TRN · 14 km | 1 h 35 m €110-163 ZRH · 9 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 15 m no fares TRN · 14 km | 1 h 30 m €70-92 ZRH · 9 km |
| CataniaCTA | 1 h 55 m €41-129 TRN · 14 km | 2 h 10 m no fares BSL · 81 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 25 m €36-129 TRN · 14 km | 1 h 40 m €114-151 ZRH · 9 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 45 m €171-459 1 stop TRN · 14 km | 2 h 45 m €110-133 ZRH · 9 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 55 m no fares TRN · 14 km | 2 h 5 m €158-220 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| Sao PauloGRU, VCP, CGH, RTE | 11 h 50 m €1,114-1167 2 stops MXP · 103 km | 12 h 0 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 103 km | 6 h 15 m €232-366 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| BangkokBKK, DMK | 11 h 20 m no fares MXP · 103 km | 11 h 20 m no fares ZRH · 9 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Turin | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | French, German, Italian, Romansh |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Swiss Franc (CHF) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CJ230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 239 m | 408 m |
| Main airport | Turin Airport (TRN)14 km from centre63 non-stop destinations | Zürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre181 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Turin | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 841,600 | 452,421 |
| People per km² | 6,474 | 5,147 |
| Museums within 10 km | 72 | 63 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 78 | 78 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Turin or Zurich somewhere new.