VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
Rozenhoedkaai and the Belfry, Bruges
BrugesRozenhoedkaai and the Belfry

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Bruges by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Avignon or Bruges?

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 Avignon for

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

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

Choose Bruges for

  • getting around
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Bruges’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. Avignon 22, Bruges 28: Bruges leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Bruges 56: Avignon leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Bruges 75: Bruges leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Bruges 27: Avignon leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Bruges 40: Avignon leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Bruges 85: Avignon leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Bruges 54: Bruges leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Bruges 78: Bruges leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Bruges 45: Bruges leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Bruges 36: Avignon leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Bruges 40: Avignon leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Bruges 40: Bruges leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Avignon
Best match
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Bruges
50match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Bruges in July

21 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonBruges

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Bruges 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.

Bruges's sunshine is measured 37 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Bruges: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zeebrugge / Zeemanshaard (15.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonBruges
Official languageFrenchFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m2 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)94 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonBruges
City population92,188118,509
People per km²1,420840
Museums within 10 km1138
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km63
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 Avignon or Bruges 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.