VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ghent or Valparaiso?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Valparaiso 50: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Valparaiso 62: Ghent leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Valparaiso 63: Ghent leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Valparaiso 33: Ghent leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Valparaiso 44: Ghent leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Valparaiso 30: Ghent leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Valparaiso 38: Ghent leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Valparaiso 18: Ghent leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

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.

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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
GhentValparaiso

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.

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentValparaiso
Official languageFrench, German, DutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation12 m21 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentValparaiso
City population272,657296,655
People per km²1,7286,180
Museums within 10 km3017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
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 Valparaiso 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.