VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Porto?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Porto for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Porto’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, Porto 40: Alicante leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Porto 70: Porto leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Porto 68: Porto leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Porto 65: Porto leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Porto 64: Porto leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Porto 79: Porto leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Porto 52: Alicante leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Alicante and Porto are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Porto 52: Porto leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Porto 62: Porto leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Porto 52: Porto leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Porto 34: Alicante leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Porto.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Porto
59match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AlicantePorto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicantePorto
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m104 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicantePorto
City population366,221273,476
People per km²1,8196,606
Museums within 10 km842
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Porto 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.