VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ghent or Split?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • getting around

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

Choose Split for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Split 57: Ghent leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Split 66: Ghent leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Split 52: Ghent leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Split 77: Split leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Split 78: Ghent leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Split 54: Split leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Split 67: Ghent leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Split 32: Ghent leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Split 45: Split leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Split 37: Ghent leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Split 40: Split leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ghent and Split.

Your match

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

Ghent
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Split
Best match
57match

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.

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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
GhentSplit

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.

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). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentSplit
Official languageFrench, German, DutchCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation12 m0 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentSplit
City population272,657160,577
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km3011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km54
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone4 months

Where else could you go?

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