VacationSelector
Ross Castle on Lough Leane, Killarney
KillarneyRoss Castle on Lough Leane
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Killarney by NicholasH, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Killarney or Orange Beach?

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 Killarney for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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. Killarney 22, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Killarney 33, Orange Beach 40: Orange Beach leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Killarney 28, Orange Beach 7: Killarney leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Killarney 32, Orange Beach 30: Killarney leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Killarney 82, Orange Beach 60: Killarney leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Killarney 58, Orange Beach 50: Killarney leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Killarney 42, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Killarney 47, Orange Beach 15: Killarney leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Killarney 22, Orange Beach 25: Orange Beach leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Killarney 35, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Killarney 35, Orange Beach 32: Killarney leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Killarney 42, Orange Beach 32: Killarney leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Killarney and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Killarney
40match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

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.

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KillarneyOrange Beach

Where the figures come from

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. Killarney: 1991-2020 normals, Valentia Observatory (52.7 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKillarneyOrange Beach
Official languageEnglish, Irish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation50 m4 m
Main airportKerry Airport (KIR)14 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKillarneyOrange Beach
City population14,4128,095
People per km²-196
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

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.