VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Bordeaux?

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
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose Bordeaux for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Bordeaux’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, Bordeaux 50: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Bordeaux 78: Bordeaux leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Bordeaux 68: Bordeaux leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Bordeaux 50: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Bordeaux 58: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Bordeaux 78: Bordeaux leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Bordeaux 57: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Bordeaux 76: Bordeaux leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Bordeaux 56: Bordeaux leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Bordeaux 42: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Bordeaux 55: Bordeaux leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Bordeaux are level on 40.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Bordeaux
59match

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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteBordeaux

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteBordeaux
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m1 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteBordeaux
City population366,221267,991
People per km²1,8195,425
Museums within 10 km818
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
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 Bordeaux 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.