VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Gdansk or Osaka?

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 Osaka for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Gdansk leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Osaka 63: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk and Osaka are level on 58.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Osaka 60: Gdansk leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Osaka.

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.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on food and drink 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskOsaka

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). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskOsaka
Official languagePolishJapanese
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCE50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation11 m20 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskOsaka
City population487,8342,751,862
People per km²71412,340
Museums within 10 km3444
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km26
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gdansk or Osaka 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.