VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Alicante or Riga?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Riga for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Alicante leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Riga 52: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Riga 66: Riga leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Riga 52: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Riga 55: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Riga 60: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Riga 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Riga 68: Riga leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Riga 45: Riga leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Riga 62: Riga leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Riga 65: Riga leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Riga 50: Riga leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Riga.

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.

Riga
55match

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteRiga
Official languageSpanishLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m6 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteRiga
City population366,221588,911
People per km²1,819-
Museums within 10 km812
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 Riga 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.