VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

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

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

Choose Gdansk for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • 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. Boston 35, Gdansk 40: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Gdansk 50: Boston leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Gdansk 68: Boston leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Gdansk 52: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Gdansk 58: Boston leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Gdansk 62: Boston leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Gdansk 62: Boston leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Gdansk 72: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Gdansk 42: Boston leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Gdansk 52: Boston leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Gdansk 36: Gdansk leads by 6 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Gdansk.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Boston
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Gdansk
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonGdansk

Where the figures come from

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. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonGdansk
Official language-Polish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation43 m11 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonGdansk
City population675,647487,834
People per km²2,910714
Museums within 10 km5134
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.