VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Ghent or Zadar?

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 Zadar for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Zadar’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, Zadar 72: Zadar leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Zadar 45: Ghent leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Zadar 55: Ghent leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Zadar 38: Ghent leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Zadar 82: Zadar leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Zadar 70: Ghent leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Zadar 55: Zadar leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Zadar 58: Ghent leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Zadar 27: Ghent leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Zadar 52: Zadar leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Zadar 28: Ghent leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 33, Zadar 35: Zadar leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

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

Zadar
51match

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

Zadar in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
GhentZadar

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.

Zadar 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). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentZadar
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 m5 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGhentZadar
City population272,65770,779
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km301
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
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 Zadar 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.