Paris or Zurich?

485 km apart, in France and Switzerland. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• Paris France · best May, Jul, Aug
• Zurich Switzerland · best May, Jun, Jul

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

• Cost of living — Paris: moderate, about 77% of the United States; Zurich: very expensive, about 112% of the United States.
• Currency — Paris: Q4916; Zurich: Swiss franc.
• Plugs — Paris: type C and E, 230 / 400 V; Zurich: type C, 230 V.
• Driving — Paris: on the right; Zurich: on the right.
• Travel advice — Paris: no advice against travel; Zurich: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

485 km as the crow flies, about 1h 30m in the air.Nonstop, about 9 a day · Air France, SWISS. By train, about 5h 11m · TGV INOUI 2365 · IC3. By bus, about 10h 51m · FlixBus N199 · 87. By road, 665 km and about 6h 29m.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• Paris or Amsterdam
• Paris or Athens
• Paris or Barcelona
• Paris or Budapest
• Paris or Lisbon
• Paris or London
• Paris or Prague
• Paris or Rome
• Paris or Vienna
• Zurich or Amsterdam
• Zurich or Athens
• Zurich or Barcelona

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.