VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Alicante or Austin?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Austin’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. Alicante 82, Austin 30: Alicante leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Austin 66: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Austin 40: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Austin 65: Austin leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Austin 57: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Austin 58: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Austin 55: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Austin 30: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Austin 45: Austin leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Austin 33: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Austin 77: Austin leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Austin are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Austin.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Austin
50match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteAustin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteAustin
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m149 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteAustin
City population366,221961,855
People per km²1,8191,217
Museums within 10 km821
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Alicante or Austin 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.