VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata, Catania
CataniaThe Cathedral of Sant'Agata

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Catania by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Catania?

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

  • families
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Catania for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Catania’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, Catania 72: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Catania 77: Catania leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Catania 62: Catania leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Alicante and Catania are level on 60.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Catania 83: Catania leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Catania 84: Catania leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Catania 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Catania 48: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Catania 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante and Catania are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Catania 55: Catania leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Catania 30: Alicante leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Catania.

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 families and getting around with your weighting.

Catania
60match

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

Catania in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteCatania

Where the figures come from

Catania's sunshine is measured 88 km from the centre, at Messina.

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

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteCatania
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m7 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsCatania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre96 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteCatania
City population366,221311,584
People per km²1,8191,704
Museums within 10 km825
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Catania 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.