VacationSelector
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas

Photos: Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galway or Maastricht?

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 Galway for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Maastricht for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Maastricht’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. Galway 28, Maastricht 8: Galway leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Galway 45, Maastricht 58: Maastricht leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Galway 33, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Galway 50, Maastricht 42: Galway leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galway 78, Maastricht 58: Galway leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Galway 56, Maastricht 77: Maastricht leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Galway 42, Maastricht 55: Maastricht leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Galway 58, Maastricht 74: Maastricht leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Galway 38, Maastricht 60: Maastricht leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Galway 28, Maastricht 38: Maastricht leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galway 57, Maastricht 40: Galway leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galway 28, Maastricht 52: Maastricht leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galway and Maastricht.

Your match

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

Galway
45match

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

Maastricht
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
GalwayMaastricht

Where the figures come from

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre). Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalwayMaastricht
Official languageEnglish, IrishDutch
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
Elevation25 m49 m
Main airportShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinationsMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalwayMaastricht
City population83,456120,227
People per km²1,5632,000
Museums within 10 km421
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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