VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bologna 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 Bologna for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Maastricht for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Bologna 30, Maastricht 8: Bologna leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Maastricht 58: Bologna leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Maastricht 60: Bologna leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Maastricht 42: Bologna leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Maastricht 58: Maastricht leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Maastricht 77: Bologna leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Maastricht 55: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Maastricht 74: Bologna leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Maastricht 38: Bologna leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Maastricht 40: Bologna leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna 40, Maastricht 52: Maastricht leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Maastricht.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Maastricht
52match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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
15 hdaylight a day

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BolognaMaastricht

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaMaastricht
Official languageItalianDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation54 m49 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaMaastricht
City population387,971120,227
People per km²2,7542,000
Museums within 10 km6821
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km35

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna 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. 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.