VacationSelector
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

York 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 York for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. York 14, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. York 42, Zurich 53: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. York 70, Zurich 58: York leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. York 36, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. York 62, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Day trips. York 80, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Good for families. York 60, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Getting around. York 72, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. York 46, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Affordability. York 38, Zurich 3: York leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. York 38, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. York 34, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: York and Zurich.

Your match

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

York
49match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
YorkZurich

Where the figures come from

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureYorkZurich
Official languageEnglishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation25 m408 m
Main airportLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureYorkZurich
City population208,400440,935
People per km²7665,016
Museums within 10 km2463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

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