VacationSelector
Minato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock, Yokohama
YokohamaMinato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Yokohama by Yoshio Kohara, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Yokohama 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 Yokohama for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • families

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

Choose Zurich for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Yokohama 46, Zurich 45: Yokohama leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Yokohama 72, Zurich 53: Yokohama leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Yokohama 55, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Yokohama 44, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Yokohama 66, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Yokohama 86, Zurich 84: Yokohama leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Yokohama 86, Zurich 76: Yokohama leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Yokohama 87, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Yokohama 60, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Yokohama 55, Zurich 3: Yokohama leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Yokohama 56, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Yokohama 60, Zurich 58: Yokohama leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Yokohama and Zurich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Yokohama
64match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Yokohama in July

28 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
YokohamaZurich

Where the figures come from

Yokohama's sunshine is measured 29 km from the centre, at Tokyo.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Yokohama: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Yokohama (1.6 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureYokohamaZurich
Official languageJapaneseFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYen (JPY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation24 m408 m
Main airportTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureYokohamaZurich
City population3,757,630440,935
People per km²8,5855,016
Museums within 10 km3863
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Yokohama 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.