VacationSelector
The beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier, Virginia Beach
Virginia BeachThe beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Virginia Beach by SchuminWeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Virginia Beach 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 Virginia Beach for

  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Virginia Beach 77, Zurich 45: Virginia Beach leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Virginia Beach 42, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Virginia Beach 30, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Virginia Beach 37, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Virginia Beach 56, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Virginia Beach 64, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Virginia Beach 75, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Virginia Beach 27, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 68 points.
Shopping & style. Virginia Beach 32, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Virginia Beach 40, Zurich 3: Virginia Beach leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Virginia Beach 38, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Virginia Beach 32, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Virginia Beach and Zurich.

Your match

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

Virginia Beach
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Virginia Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
152 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Virginia BeachZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Virginia Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Virginia Beach / Gatewood Park (5.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVirginia BeachZurich
Official language-French, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation7 m408 m
Main airportNorfolk International Airport (ORF)20 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureVirginia BeachZurich
City population459,470440,935
People per km²-5,016
Museums within 10 km263
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Virginia Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.