VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Barcelona or Faro?

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

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Faro for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Barcelona leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Faro 48: Barcelona leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Faro 35: Barcelona leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Faro 32: Barcelona leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Faro 62: Barcelona leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Faro 64: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Faro 60: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Faro 60: Barcelona leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Faro 35: Barcelona leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Faro 60: Faro leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Faro 30: Barcelona leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Faro 33: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Faro
49match

Wins on prices 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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaFaro

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaFaro
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation9 m10 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaFaro
City population1,731,64964,560
People per km²17,094319
Museums within 10 km952
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months3 months

Where else could you go?

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