VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium

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

Alicante or Brussels?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Brussels for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Brussels’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, Brussels 18: Alicante leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Brussels 72: Brussels leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Brussels 74: Brussels leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Alicante and Brussels are level on 60.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Brussels 45: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Brussels 89: Brussels leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Brussels 60: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Brussels 72: Brussels leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Brussels 62: Brussels leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Brussels 40: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Brussels 68: Brussels leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Brussels 33: Alicante leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Brussels.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Brussels
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteBrussels

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteBrussels
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Dutch
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 m70 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteBrussels
City population366,221195,546
People per km²1,8195,908
Museums within 10 km8106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km210
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 Brussels 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.