VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Biarritz or Maastricht?

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 Biarritz for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Maastricht for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Maastricht’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. Biarritz 68, Maastricht 8: Biarritz leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Maastricht 58: Biarritz leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Maastricht 42: Maastricht leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Maastricht 58: Biarritz leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Maastricht 77: Biarritz leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Maastricht 55: Biarritz leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Maastricht 74: Maastricht leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Maastricht 38: Maastricht leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Maastricht 40: Maastricht leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Maastricht 52: Biarritz leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Maastricht.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Biarritz
54match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Maastricht
52match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzMaastricht

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzMaastricht
Official languageFrenchDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m49 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzMaastricht
City population26,206120,227
People per km²2,2402,000
Museums within 10 km821
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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