VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Gdansk?

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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Gdansk for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Gdansk’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. Edinburgh 22, Gdansk 40: Gdansk leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Gdansk 50: Edinburgh leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Gdansk 68: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Gdansk 52: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Gdansk 58: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Gdansk 62: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh and Gdansk are level on 62.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Gdansk 72: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Gdansk 42: Edinburgh leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Gdansk 68: Gdansk leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Gdansk 52: Edinburgh leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Gdansk 36: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Gdansk.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Gdansk
55match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghGdansk

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghGdansk
Official languageEnglishPolish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation47 m11 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghGdansk
City population488,050487,834
People per km²1,884714
Museums within 10 km3234
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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