VacationSelector
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Valparaiso 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 Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • families
  • 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. Valparaiso 36, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Valparaiso 50, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Valparaiso 62, Zurich 58: Valparaiso leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Valparaiso 56, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Valparaiso 60, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Valparaiso 63, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Valparaiso 33, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Valparaiso 44, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Valparaiso 30, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Valparaiso 60, Zurich 3: Valparaiso leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Valparaiso 38, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Valparaiso 18, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Valparaiso and Zurich.

Your match

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

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ValparaisoZurich

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureValparaisoZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132112
Elevation21 m408 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureValparaisoZurich
City population296,655440,935
People per km²6,1805,016
Museums within 10 km1763
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Valparaiso 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.