VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License.

Alicante or Beijing?

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
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Beijing for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Beijing’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, Beijing 6: Alicante leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Beijing 81: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Beijing 93: Beijing leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Beijing 58: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Beijing 60: Alicante leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Beijing 85: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Beijing 64: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Beijing 69: Beijing leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Beijing 72: Beijing leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Beijing 55: Beijing leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Beijing.

Your match

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

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteBeijing

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteBeijing
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation3 m43 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteBeijing
City population366,22121,893,095
People per km²1,8191,334
Museums within 10 km883
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km26
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 Beijing 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.