VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Austin or Tirana?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Tirana for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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. Austin 30, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Tirana 57: Austin leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Tirana 42: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Tirana 58: Austin leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Tirana 62: Tirana leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Tirana 40: Austin leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Tirana 32: Austin leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Tirana 32: Austin leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Tirana 27: Austin leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Tirana.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AustinTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinTirana
Official language-Albanian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Lek (ALL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m110 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinTirana
City population961,855389,323
People per km²1,2179,314
Museums within 10 km2111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Tirana 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.