VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Dublin?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Dublin for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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, Dublin 27: Alicante leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Dublin 50: Alicante leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Dublin 64: Dublin leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Dublin 62: Dublin leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Dublin 70: Dublin leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Alicante and Dublin are level on 72.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Dublin 57: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Alicante and Dublin are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Dublin 54: Dublin leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Dublin 20: Alicante leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Dublin 65: Dublin leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Dublin 25: Alicante leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Dublin.

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.

Dublin
53match

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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteDublin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteDublin
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 m20 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteDublin
City population366,221592,713
People per km²1,8195,154
Museums within 10 km840
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Dublin 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.