VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Brussels or Newport Beach?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Newport Beach 50: Brussels leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Newport Beach 20: Brussels leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Newport Beach 33: Brussels leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Newport Beach 66: Newport Beach leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Newport Beach 70: Brussels leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Newport Beach 20: Brussels leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels and Newport Beach are level on 62.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Newport Beach 15: Brussels leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Newport Beach 46: Brussels leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Newport Beach 44: Newport Beach leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsNewport Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsNewport Beach
Official languageFrench, German, Dutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m3 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsNewport Beach
City population195,54685,239
People per km²5,908622
Museums within 10 km1064
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km100
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 Newport Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.