Cardiff or Cork?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on sights concentration and beaches & swimming with your weighting.
Wins on value for money and nature & day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Cardiff if you want the city itself to carry the trip: more to see on foot from the centre, more museums, and 8 beaches near town rather than 1.
Choose Cork if the country around the city matters more than the city, and if a smaller, quieter base with a comparable range of day trips suits you better than a busier centre.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Cardiff leads by 18 points.18
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 28 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 8 | 1 |
| Coast distance | 2 km | 3 km |
| Water distance | 2 km | 3 km |
Places to eat. Cardiff leads by 10 points.10
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 50 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 541 | 224 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 32 | 35 |
Museums & heritage. Cardiff leads by 16 points.16
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 39 | 23 |
| Museums within 10 km | 61 | 10 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 6 | 8 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 10 | 80 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
Nightlife. Cardiff leads by 10 points.10
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48 | 38 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 536 | 361 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 395 | 292 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 74 | 81 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 35 | 9 |
Nature & day trips. Cork leads by 2 points.2
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 52 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 18 | — |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 15 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 68 | 74 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 48 hectares |
Good for families. Cardiff leads by 5 points.5
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 32 | 27 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 4 | 7 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 48 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 0 |
Sights concentration. Cardiff leads by 23 points.23
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 45 | 22 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 51 | 14 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Cork leads by 3 points.3
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 57 |
| Price level global | 84.9 | 80.2 |
| Daily budget | — | €187 |
Year-round weather. Cardiff leads by 5 points.5
| Cardiff | Cork | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 49 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.7 °C to 20.2 °C | 8.3 °C to 18.6 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 49 mm to 87 mm | 78 mm to 140 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Cardiff has about three times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, and many times as many museums, plus a UNESCO-listed site within day-trip reach where Cork has none. The sea is 2km from the centre against Cork's 3km, with 8 beaches nearby rather than 1, and about twice as many restaurants close in.
Cork's case is quieter ground: a similar range of nature and day trips just outside the city, and museums clustered tightly around the centre, so the little it holds is easy to cover on foot.
Where they are alike
Both are similarly placed for getting out of the city, and the country reachable from each counts for as much as the centre does; Cardiff simply has more park space close in.
Neither is built around children: Cork has about twice as many tourist attractions near the centre, while Cardiff has 2 theme parks within reach. The weather is close to identical too, with highs of 8-20°C against 8-19°C and both peaking in July.
Which traveller are you?
A traveller who wants museums and heritage on foot should take Cardiff: many times as many museums, about three times as many notable places within walking distance, and a UNESCO-listed site within day-trip reach.
For eating out and going out late, Cardiff again: about twice as many restaurants near the centre and about three times as many nightclubs, most of them close in, though the range of kitchens is much the same in both.
Someone planning to spend most days outside the city can take either, and Cork at the quieter end: similar day-trip country, fewer sights pulling you back in, and 1 beach rather than Cardiff's 8.
What the numbers don't tell you
Cork's daily budget comes to €187, and the dataset carries no equivalent figure for Cardiff at all. Nothing here supports a claim about which of the two is the cheaper trip.
The beach figures flatter Cardiff. A cluster of beaches near the city looks decisive on paper, but the sea peaks at 18°C in August and never reaches 21°C, so swimming is a short, bracing season rather than a reason to book. Rain works the same way: neither city has a month at 40mm or less, so the warm months are not the dry months, and Cardiff's summer edge is one of degree.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre). Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre).
Cardiff peaks in July and August, with highs of 20°C and the sea at 18°C in August, on 54-66mm of rain a month. September still holds 18°C with 54mm.
Cork's window falls at the same time but runs cooler and wetter: 19°C in July and August with the sea at 16°C, and even May, its driest month, brings 78mm. From October to January it takes 125-140mm a month against Cardiff's 77-87mm, which is where the two separate most.
Getting there
| Flying from | Cardiff | Cork |
|---|---|---|
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 20 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 1 h 45 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| ArrecifeACE | 3 h 45 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 3 h 40 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| MalagaAGP | 2 h 35 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 2 h 40 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| PalmaPMI | 2 h 20 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 2 h 35 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| FaroFAO | 2 h 35 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 2 h 35 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| Las PalmasLPA | 4 h 0 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 3 h 50 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| ReusREU | 2 h 5 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 2 h 20 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
| DublinDUB | 1 h 0 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 1 h 0 m no fares KIR · 78 km |
| Puerto del RosarioFUE | 3 h 50 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 3 h 50 m no fares SNN · 94 km |
| EdinburghEDI | 1 h 15 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 1 h 20 m no fares ORK · 7 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Cardiff | Cork |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | English, Irish |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | G230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC, UTC+1 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 112 |
| Elevation | 41 m | 0 m |
| Main airport | Cardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre8 non-stop destinations | Cork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre46 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 8 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cardiff | Cork |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 383,536 | 222,333 |
| People per km² | 2,734 | 5,961 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 5 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 55 | 49 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cardiff or Cork somewhere new.