VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Antwerp 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 Antwerp for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Antwerp 15, Riga 40: Riga leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Riga 52: Antwerp leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Riga 66: Antwerp leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Riga 52: Antwerp leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Riga 55: Riga leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Riga 60: Antwerp leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Riga 50: Antwerp leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Riga 68: Antwerp leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Riga 45: Antwerp leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Riga 62: Riga leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Riga 65: Riga leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Riga 50: Riga leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Antwerp
55match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

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

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpRiga

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). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpRiga
Official languageFrench, German, DutchLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m6 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpRiga
City population529,247588,911
People per km²2,542-
Museums within 10 km3812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km91
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 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. 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.