VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Dublin or Lisbon?

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 Dublin for

  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Dublin 27, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Lisbon 78: Lisbon leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Lisbon 62: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Dublin and Lisbon are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Lisbon 60: Dublin leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Lisbon 36: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dublin
53match

Wins on live music and the arts with your weighting.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DublinLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinLisbon
Official languageEnglish, IrishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation20 m100 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinLisbon
City population592,713545,796
People per km²5,1545,453
Museums within 10 km4080
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin or Lisbon 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.