VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Gdansk or Sofia?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sofia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Gdansk leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Sofia 45: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Sofia 60: Gdansk leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Sofia 50: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Sofia 60: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Sofia 40: Gdansk leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Sofia 65: Gdansk leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Sofia 38: Gdansk leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk 52, Sofia 50: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Sofia.

Your match

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

Gdansk
Best match
55match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskSofia

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). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskSofia
Official languagePolishBulgarian
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 m560 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskSofia
City population487,8341,213,134
People per km²7142,466
Museums within 10 km3442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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