VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
The arch at the entrance to the boardwalk, Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City, MarylandThe arch at the entrance to the boardwalk

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Ocean City, Maryland by Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ghent or Ocean City, Maryland?

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
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Ocean City, Maryland for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Ocean City, Maryland’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, Ocean City, Maryland 78: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Ocean City, Maryland 40: Ghent leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Ocean City, Maryland 14: Ghent leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Ocean City, Maryland 45: Ghent leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Ocean City, Maryland 50: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Ocean City, Maryland 42: Ghent leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Ocean City, Maryland 78: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Ocean City, Maryland 34: Ghent leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Ocean City, Maryland 24: Ghent leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Ocean City, Maryland 40: Ocean City, Maryland leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Ocean City, Maryland 18: Ghent leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Ocean City, Maryland 22: Ghent leads by 11 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent and Ocean City, Maryland.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Ocean City, Maryland
40match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Ocean City, Maryland in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
GhentOcean City, Maryland

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.

Ocean City, Maryland 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). Ocean City, Maryland: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Ocean City / Morris Mobile Home Park (10.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentOcean City, Maryland
Official languageFrench, German, Dutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation12 m2 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsSalisbury Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY)39 km from centre4 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentOcean City, Maryland
City population272,6576,844
People per km²1,72873
Museums within 10 km300
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ghent or Ocean City, Maryland 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.