VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Gdansk or Rio de Janeiro?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk and Rio de Janeiro are level on 68.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Rio de Janeiro 50: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Rio de Janeiro 50: Gdansk leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Rio de Janeiro 44: Gdansk leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Rio de Janeiro 60: Gdansk leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Rio de Janeiro 30: Gdansk leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Gdansk
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskRio de Janeiro

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.

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGdanskRio de Janeiro
Official languagePolishPortuguese
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCE50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation11 m31 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskRio de Janeiro
City population487,8346,211,223
People per km²7144,930
Museums within 10 km3469
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gdansk or Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.