VacationSelector
White sand and parasols on the beach, Destin
DestinWhite sand and parasols on the beach
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie

Photos: Destin by #KenFL74, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Destin or Ghent?

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 Destin for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Ghent for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Ghent’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. Destin 86, Ghent 25: Destin leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Destin 42, Ghent 62: Ghent leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Destin 14, Ghent 72: Ghent leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Destin 36, Ghent 55: Ghent leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Destin 56, Ghent 35: Destin leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Destin 44, Ghent 88: Ghent leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Destin 72, Ghent 50: Destin leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Destin 20, Ghent 78: Ghent leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Destin 40, Ghent 50: Ghent leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Destin 34, Ghent 38: Ghent leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Destin 20, Ghent 60: Ghent leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Destin and Ghent are level on 33.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Destin and Ghent.

Your match

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

Destin
41match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Ghent
Best match
54match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Destin in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DestinGhent

Where the figures come from

Destin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Ghent has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Destin: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Destin (0.8 km from centre). Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDestinGhent
Official language-French, German, Dutch
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation8 m12 m
Main airportDestin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS)11 km from centre45 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDestinGhent
City population13,931272,657
People per km²6361,728
Museums within 10 km130
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Destin or Ghent 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.