Galway or Riga?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on museums & heritage and sights concentration with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Galway leads by 11 points.11
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 51 | 40 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 13 | 57 |
| Coast distance | 1 km | 12 km |
| Water distance | 1 km | 12 km |
Places to eat. Riga leads by 22 points.22
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 37 | 59 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 173 | 470 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 33 |
Museums & heritage. Riga leads by 41 points.41
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 20 | 61 |
| Museums within 10 km | 5 | 69 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 5 | 47 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 100 | 68 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
Nightlife. Riga leads by 25 points.25
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 26 | 51 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 185 | 584 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 153 | 456 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 83 | 78 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 8 | 54 |
Nature & day trips. Galway leads by 11 points.11
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 44 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | — | 10 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 85 | 73 |
| Park area within 2 km | 65 hectares | 68 hectares |
Good for families. Riga leads by 10 points.10
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 25 | 35 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 5 | 7 |
| Park area within 2 km | 65 hectares | 68 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Riga leads by 40 points.40
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 22 | 62 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 14 | 137 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Riga leads by 19 points.19
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 57 | 76 |
| Price level global | 80.2 | 53.7 |
| Daily budget | €187 | €132 |
Year-round weather. Galway leads by 2 points.2
| Galway | Riga | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 52 |
| Monthly daytime high | 8.9 °C to 19.6 °C | -0.1 °C to 23.5 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 63 mm to 113 mm | 33 mm to 87 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 3 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Galway | Riga |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 20 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 2 h 40 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| DublinDUB | 1 h 0 m no fares KIR · 125 km | 2 h 55 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 2 h 10 m no fares KIR · 125 km | 2 h 10 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| KrakowKRK | 3 h 0 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 1 h 35 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| ManchesterMAN | 1 h 10 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 2 h 40 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| MalagaAGP | 2 h 50 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 4 h 20 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| MilanMXP, BGY, LIN | 2 h 30 m no fares NOC · 73 km | 2 h 35 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 45 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 2 h 40 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| FaroFAO | 2 h 45 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 4 h 30 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
| EdinburghEDI | 1 h 15 m no fares SNN · 64 km | 2 h 40 m no fares RIX · 9 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Galway | Riga |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, Irish | Latvian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 25 m | 6 m |
| Main airport | Shannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre36 non-stop destinations | Riga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre101 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | – |
By the numbers
| Measure | Galway | Riga |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 83,456 | 588,911 |
| People per km² | 1,563 | – |
| Museums within 10 km | 4 | 12 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 25 | 55 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galway or Riga somewhere new.