VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
Ross Castle on Lough Leane, Killarney
KillarneyRoss Castle on Lough Leane

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Killarney by NicholasH, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ghent or Killarney?

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 Ghent for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Killarney for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Killarney’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. Ghent 25, Killarney 22: Ghent leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Killarney 33: Ghent leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Killarney 28: Ghent leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Killarney 32: Ghent leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Killarney 82: Killarney leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Killarney 58: Ghent leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Killarney 42: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Killarney 47: Ghent leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Killarney 22: Ghent leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Killarney 35: Ghent leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Killarney 35: Ghent leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Killarney 42: Killarney leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent and Killarney.

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Killarney
40match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Killarney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
88 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
GhentKillarney

Where the figures come from

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.

Killarney's temperatures are measured 53 km from the centre, at Valentia Observatory.

Killarney 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre). Killarney: 1991-2020 normals, Valentia Observatory (52.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentKillarney
Official languageFrench, German, DutchEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation12 m50 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsKerry Airport (KIR)14 km from centre10 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentKillarney
City population272,65714,412
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km301
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ghent or Killarney somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.