VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antwerp or Galway?

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

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Galway for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Galway’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, Galway 28: Galway leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Galway 45: Antwerp leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Galway 33: Antwerp leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Galway 50: Antwerp leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Galway 78: Galway leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Galway 56: Antwerp leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Galway 42: Antwerp leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Galway 58: Antwerp leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Galway 38: Antwerp leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Galway 28: Antwerp leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Galway 57: Antwerp leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Galway 28: Antwerp leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antwerp and Galway.

Your match

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

Antwerp
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Galway
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpGalway

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.

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpGalway
Official languageFrench, German, DutchEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m25 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpGalway
City population529,24783,456
People per km²2,5421,563
Museums within 10 km384
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km90
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antwerp or Galway 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.