VacationSelector
Ross Castle on Lough Leane, Killarney
KillarneyRoss Castle on Lough Leane
Punta del Este

Photos: Killarney by NicholasH, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Killarney or Punta del Este?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Punta del Este for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’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, Punta del Este 72: Punta del Este leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Killarney 33, Punta del Este 45: Punta del Este leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Killarney 28, Punta del Este 22: Killarney leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Killarney 32, Punta del Este 60: Punta del Este leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Killarney 82, Punta del Este 55: Killarney leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Killarney 58, Punta del Este 45: Killarney leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Killarney 42, Punta del Este 55: Punta del Este leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Killarney 47, Punta del Este 35: Killarney leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Killarney 22, Punta del Este 42: Punta del Este leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Killarney 35, Punta del Este 20: Killarney leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Killarney 35, Punta del Este 22: Killarney leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Killarney 42, Punta del Este 32: Killarney leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Killarney and Punta del Este.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Killarney
40match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

Punta del Este
42match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
KillarneyPunta del Este

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.

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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). Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKillarneyPunta del Este
Official languageEnglish, Irish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation50 m11 m
Main airportKerry Airport (KIR)14 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureKillarneyPunta del Este
City population14,4129,277
People per km²-455
Museums within 10 km15
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Killarney or Punta del Este 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. 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.