VacationSelector
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cork or Rome?

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

  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Cork 58, Rome 82: Rome leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Cork 40, Rome 99: Rome leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Cork 40, Rome 58: Rome leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cork 62, Rome 58: Cork leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cork 68, Rome 92: Rome leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Cork and Rome are level on 50.
Getting around. Cork 58, Rome 60: Rome leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Cork 40, Rome 72: Rome leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Cork 33, Rome 38: Rome leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cork 45, Rome 68: Rome leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cork 22, Rome 40: Rome leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cork and Rome.

Your match

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

Cork
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CorkRome

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.

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCorkRome
Official languageEnglish, IrishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m21 m
Main airportCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCorkRome
City population222,3332,748,109
People per km²5,9612,135
Museums within 10 km5178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cork or Rome 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.