VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Dubrovnik?

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

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Dubrovnik for

Dubrovnik does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Dubrovnik’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, Dubrovnik 74: Barcelona leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Dubrovnik 47: Barcelona leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Dubrovnik 72: Barcelona leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Dubrovnik 37: Barcelona leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Dubrovnik 70: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Dubrovnik 66: Barcelona leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Dubrovnik 50: Barcelona leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Dubrovnik 60: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Dubrovnik 25: Barcelona leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Dubrovnik 28: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Dubrovnik 25: Barcelona leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Dubrovnik 32: Barcelona leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Dubrovnik.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Dubrovnik
49match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaDubrovnik

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik 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.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaDubrovnik
Official languageSpanishCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation9 m10 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaDubrovnik
City population1,731,64941,562
People per km²17,094-
Museums within 10 km957
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Dubrovnik 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. 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.