VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Wilmington?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wilmington for

Wilmington does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Wilmington 48: Barcelona leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Wilmington 40: Barcelona leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Wilmington 40: Barcelona leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Wilmington 58: Barcelona leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Wilmington 45: Barcelona leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Wilmington 62: Barcelona leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Wilmington 28: Barcelona leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Wilmington 33: Barcelona leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Wilmington 42: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Wilmington 40: Barcelona leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Wilmington 33: Barcelona leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Barcelona and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaWilmington
City population1,731,649115,451
People per km²17,094839
Museums within 10 km952
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 Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.