VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Gdansk or Helsinki?

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
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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, Helsinki 28: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Helsinki 52: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Helsinki 60: Gdansk leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Helsinki 50: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk and Helsinki are level on 58.
Day trips. Gdansk and Helsinki are level on 62.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Helsinki 76: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Helsinki 86: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Helsinki 30: Gdansk leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Helsinki 63: Helsinki leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Helsinki 82: Helsinki leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Helsinki.

Your match

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

Gdansk
55match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskHelsinki

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskHelsinki
Official languagePolishFinnish, Swedish
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation11 m17 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskHelsinki
City population487,834694,392
People per km²7143,239
Museums within 10 km3474
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Helsinki 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. 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.