VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antwerp or Dresden?

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 Antwerp for

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Dresden for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Dresden’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. Antwerp 15, Dresden 10: Antwerp leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Dresden 45: Antwerp leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Dresden 79: Dresden leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Dresden 47: Antwerp leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Dresden 74: Dresden leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Dresden 76: Antwerp leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Dresden 60: Antwerp leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Dresden 74: Antwerp leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Dresden 42: Antwerp leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Dresden 55: Dresden leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Dresden 76: Dresden leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Dresden 42: Dresden leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Antwerp
55match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

Dresden
57match

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.

Antwerp in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpDresden

Where the figures come from

Antwerp has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Antwerp's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Uccle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpDresden
Official languageFrench, German, DutchGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m126 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpDresden
City population529,247562,764
People per km²2,5421,713
Museums within 10 km3870
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km91

Where else could you go?

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