VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Krakow or Santiago de Compostela?

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 Krakow for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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. Krakow 9, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow 77, Santiago de Compostela 70: Krakow leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, Santiago de Compostela 45: Krakow leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow and Santiago de Compostela are level on 62.
Day trips. Krakow 76, Santiago de Compostela 72: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, Santiago de Compostela 42: Krakow leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, Santiago de Compostela 70: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow 48, Santiago de Compostela 35: Krakow leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Krakow 72, Santiago de Compostela 64: Krakow leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, Santiago de Compostela 40: Krakow leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow 36, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Krakow and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Krakow
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowSantiago de Compostela

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowSantiago de Compostela
Official languagePolishSpanish
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation219 m260 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowSantiago de Compostela
City population804,237100,965
People per km²2,459459
Museums within 10 km1136
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Krakow or Santiago de Compostela 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.