VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Portland?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Portland for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Alicante leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Portland 68: Portland leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Portland 38: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Portland 52: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Portland 84: Portland leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Portland 58: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Portland 55: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Portland 62: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Portland 52: Portland leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Portland 38: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Portland 55: Portland leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Portland 42: Portland leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Portland.

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.

Portland
52match

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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePortland
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m152 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePortland
City population366,221652,503
People per km²1,8191,736
Museums within 10 km817
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 Portland 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.