VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Antwerp or Petra?

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

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Petra for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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, Petra 5: Antwerp leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Petra 22: Antwerp leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Petra 85: Petra leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Petra 5: Antwerp leads by 51 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Petra 78: Petra leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Petra 30: Antwerp leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Petra 25: Antwerp leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Petra 25: Antwerp leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Petra 18: Antwerp leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Petra 45: Petra leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Petra 10: Antwerp leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Petra 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 Petra.

Your match

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

Antwerp
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Antwerp in July

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

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpPetra

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.

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpPetra
Official languageFrench, German, DutchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation7 m850 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpPetra
City population529,247-
People per km²2,542-
Museums within 10 km382
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 Petra 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.