VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Rome?

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
  • families

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

Choose Rome for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Rome 82: Rome leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Rome 99: Rome leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Rome 58: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Rome 58: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Rome 92: Rome leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Rome 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Rome 60: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Rome 72: Rome leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Rome 38: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Rome 68: Rome leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Rome are level on 40.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Rome.

Your match

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

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteRome
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m21 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteRome
City population366,2212,748,109
People per km²1,8192,135
Museums within 10 km8178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km27
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Rome 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.