VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Dublin or Washington DC?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Dublin leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Washington DC 57: Dublin leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Washington DC 64: Dublin leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Washington DC 52: Dublin leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Washington DC 26: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dublin
53match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DublinWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinWashington DC
Official languageEnglish, Irish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation20 m72 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinWashington DC
City population592,713689,545
People per km²5,1543,896
Museums within 10 km4098
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Washington DC 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.