VacationSelector
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas

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

Cork or Maastricht?

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 Cork for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Maastricht for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Maastricht’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. Cork 25, Maastricht 8: Cork leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Cork and Maastricht are level on 58.
Culture & sights. Cork 40, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Cork 40, Maastricht 42: Maastricht leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cork 62, Maastricht 58: Cork leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cork 68, Maastricht 77: Maastricht leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cork 50, Maastricht 55: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Cork 58, Maastricht 74: Maastricht leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Cork 40, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cork 33, Maastricht 38: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cork 45, Maastricht 40: Cork leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cork 22, Maastricht 52: Maastricht leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cork and Maastricht.

Your match

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

Cork
45match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Maastricht
Best match
52match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CorkMaastricht

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. Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre). Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCorkMaastricht
Official languageEnglish, IrishDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m49 m
Main airportCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCorkMaastricht
City population222,333120,227
People per km²5,9612,000
Museums within 10 km521
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cork or Maastricht 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.