VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License.

Alicante or Cork?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Cork for

  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Cork’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, Cork 25: Alicante leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Cork 58: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Cork 40: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Cork 40: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Cork 62: Alicante leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Cork 68: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Cork 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Cork 58: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Cork 40: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Cork 33: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Cork 45: Cork leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Cork 22: Alicante leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Cork.

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 prices with your weighting.

Cork
45match

Wins on 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

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteCork

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteCork
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m0 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteCork
City population366,221222,333
People per km²1,8195,961
Museums within 10 km85
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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