VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Brussels or Dublin?

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 Brussels for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Dublin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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. Brussels 18, Dublin 27: Dublin leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Dublin 50: Brussels leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Dublin 64: Brussels leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Dublin 62: Dublin leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Dublin 70: Dublin leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Dublin 72: Brussels leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Dublin 57: Brussels leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Dublin 66: Brussels leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Dublin 54: Brussels leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Dublin 20: Brussels leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Dublin 65: Brussels leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Dublin 25: Brussels leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Dublin.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Dublin
53match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsDublin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsDublin
Official languageFrench, German, DutchEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation70 m20 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsDublin
City population195,546592,713
People per km²5,9085,154
Museums within 10 km10640
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km101
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 Brussels or Dublin 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. 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.