VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Gdansk or Ghent?

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 Gdansk for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Ghent for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Ghent’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. Gdansk 40, Ghent 25: Gdansk leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Ghent 62: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Ghent 72: Ghent leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Ghent 55: Ghent leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Ghent 35: Gdansk leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Ghent 88: Ghent leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Ghent 50: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Ghent 78: Ghent leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Ghent 50: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Ghent 38: Gdansk leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Ghent 60: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Ghent 33: Gdansk leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Gdansk
55match

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

Ghent
54match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskGhent

Where the figures come from

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.

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskGhent
Official languagePolishFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation11 m12 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskGhent
City population487,834272,657
People per km²7141,728
Museums within 10 km3430
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gdansk or Ghent 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.