VacationSelector
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Valencia 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 Valencia for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Valencia 78, Zurich 45: Valencia leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Valencia 74, Zurich 53: Valencia leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Valencia 68, Zurich 58: Valencia leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Valencia 66, Zurich 62: Valencia leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Valencia 60, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Valencia 70, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Valencia 75, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Valencia 76, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Valencia 57, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Valencia 57, Zurich 3: Valencia leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Valencia 55, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Valencia 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: Valencia and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Valencia
65match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ValenciaZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureValenciaZurich
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
Elevation15 m408 m
Main airportValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureValenciaZurich
City population840,792440,935
People per km²6,2425,016
Museums within 10 km4563
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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