VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Charleston?

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 Barcelona for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Charleston for

  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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. Barcelona 75, Charleston 72: Barcelona leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Charleston 72: Barcelona leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Charleston 64: Barcelona leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Charleston 44: Barcelona leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Charleston 55: Barcelona leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Charleston 62: Barcelona leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Charleston 60: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Charleston 46: Barcelona leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Charleston 55: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Charleston 27: Barcelona leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Charleston 42: Barcelona leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Charleston 40: Charleston leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Charleston.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaCharleston
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation9 m6 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaCharleston
City population1,731,649150,227
People per km²17,094532
Museums within 10 km9519
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Charleston 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.