VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License.

Brisbane or Cork?

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 Brisbane for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Cork for

  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cork’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. Brisbane 55, Cork 25: Brisbane leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Cork 58: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Cork 40: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Cork 40: Brisbane leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Cork 62: Brisbane leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Cork 68: Cork leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Cork 50: Brisbane leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Cork 58: Brisbane leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Cork 40: Brisbane leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Brisbane and Cork are level on 33.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Cork 45: Brisbane leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 40, Cork 22: Brisbane leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Cork.

Your match

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

Brisbane
Best match
54match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Cork
45match

Wins on day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BrisbaneCork

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneCork
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Irish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation0 m0 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneCork
City population2,706,966222,333
People per km²1715,961
Museums within 10 km165
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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