VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bologna or Gdansk?

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 Bologna for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Gdansk for

  • prices
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Gdansk’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. Bologna 30, Gdansk 40: Gdansk leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Gdansk 50: Bologna leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Gdansk 68: Bologna leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Gdansk 52: Bologna leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Gdansk 58: Gdansk leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Gdansk 62: Bologna leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Gdansk 62: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Gdansk 72: Bologna leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Gdansk 42: Bologna leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Gdansk 52: Bologna leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna 40, Gdansk 36: Bologna leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Gdansk.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Gdansk
55match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BolognaGdansk

Where the figures come from

Bologna 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.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaGdansk
Official languageItalianPolish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation54 m11 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaGdansk
City population387,971487,834
People per km²2,754714
Museums within 10 km6834
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna or Gdansk 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.