VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Maastricht or Petra?

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 Maastricht for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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. Maastricht 8, Petra 5: Maastricht leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, Petra 22: Maastricht leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht 60, Petra 85: Petra leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, Petra 5: Maastricht leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, Petra 78: Petra leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, Petra 30: Maastricht leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Maastricht 55, Petra 25: Maastricht leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Maastricht 74, Petra 25: Maastricht leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, Petra 18: Maastricht leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, Petra 45: Petra leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, Petra 10: Maastricht leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, Petra 28: Maastricht leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Maastricht and Petra.

Your match

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

Maastricht
Best match
52match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MaastrichtPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtPetra
Official languageDutchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation49 m850 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtPetra
City population120,227-
People per km²2,000-
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Maastricht or Petra 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). 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.