VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Krakow?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Krakow for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Krakow’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, Krakow 9: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Krakow 55: Krakow leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Krakow 77: Krakow leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Krakow 68: Krakow leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Krakow 62: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Krakow 76: Krakow leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Krakow 58: Edinburgh leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh and Krakow are level on 74.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Krakow 48: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Krakow 72: Krakow leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Krakow 55: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Krakow 36: Krakow leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghKrakow

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghKrakow
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 m219 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghKrakow
City population488,050804,237
People per km²1,8842,459
Museums within 10 km32113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Krakow 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.