VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Medellin?

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
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Alicante leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Medellin 58: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Medellin 42: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Medellin 66: Medellin leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Medellin 58: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Medellin 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Medellin 55: Alicante leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Medellin 45: Medellin leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Medellin 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 Medellin.

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 families with your weighting.

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMedellin
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation3 m1,405 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMedellin
City population366,2212,529,403
People per km²1,8196,644
Museums within 10 km814
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 Medellin 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.