VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Scottsdale?

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

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Barcelona leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Scottsdale 46: Barcelona leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Scottsdale 38: Barcelona leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Scottsdale 52: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Scottsdale 68: Barcelona leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Scottsdale 50: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Scottsdale 60: Barcelona leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Scottsdale 20: Barcelona leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Scottsdale 60: Barcelona leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Scottsdale 32: Barcelona leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Scottsdale 40: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaScottsdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation9 m380 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaScottsdale
City population1,731,649241,361
People per km²17,094-
Museums within 10 km9510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Scottsdale 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.