VacationSelector
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Galway or Medellin?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Galway leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Galway 45, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Galway 33, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Galway 50, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galway 78, Medellin 66: Galway leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Galway 56, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Galway 42, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Galway 58, Medellin 55: Galway leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Galway 38, Medellin 45: Medellin leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Galway 28, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galway 57, Medellin 42: Galway leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galway 28, Medellin 30: Medellin leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galway and Medellin.

Your match

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

Galway
45match

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

Medellin
Best match
51match

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.

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

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
GalwayMedellin

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.

Medellin 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). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalwayMedellin
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation25 m1,405 m
Main airportShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalwayMedellin
City population83,4562,529,403
People per km²1,5636,644
Museums within 10 km414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Medellin 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.