VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza, Calgary
CalgaryThe Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Calgary by abdallahh, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Calgary?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Calgary for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Calgary’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, Calgary 8: Alicante leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Calgary 45: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Calgary 35: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Calgary 40: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Calgary 88: Calgary leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Calgary 55: Alicante leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Alicante and Calgary are level on 68.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Calgary 42: Alicante leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Calgary 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Calgary 42: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Calgary 46: Calgary leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Calgary 42: Calgary leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Calgary
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Calgary in July

25 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteCalgary

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Calgary: 1991-2020 normals, Calgary Int'l CS (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteCalgary
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m1,045 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsCalgary International Airport (YYC)9 km from centre103 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteCalgary
City population366,2211,306,784
People per km²1,8191,583
Museums within 10 km813
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 Calgary 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.