VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Dublin or Malaga?

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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’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, Malaga 77: Malaga leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Malaga 68: Malaga leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Malaga 65: Malaga leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Dublin and Malaga are level on 62.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Malaga 73: Malaga leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Malaga 87: Malaga leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Malaga 70: Malaga leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Malaga 70: Malaga leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Malaga 55: Malaga leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Malaga 55: Malaga leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Malaga 45: Dublin leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Malaga 42: Malaga leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and Malaga.

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.

Malaga
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
DublinMalaga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinMalaga
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
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
Elevation20 m18 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinMalaga
City population592,713599,063
People per km²5,1541,517
Museums within 10 km4032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

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