VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Alicante or Quito?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Quito for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Alicante leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Quito 54: Alicante leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Quito 77: Quito leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Quito 40: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Quito 86: Quito leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Quito 55: Alicante leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Quito 32: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Quito 45: Alicante leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Quito 40: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Quito 78: Quito leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Quito 38: Quito leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Quito 44: Quito leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Quito.

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.

Quito
50match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 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). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteQuito
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m2,850 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteQuito
City population366,2211,763,275
People per km²1,8194,735
Museums within 10 km816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Quito 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.