VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Maastricht 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 Maastricht for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Maastricht’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. Maastricht 8, Zadar 72: Zadar leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, Zadar 45: Maastricht leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht 60, Zadar 55: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, Zadar 38: Maastricht leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, Zadar 82: Zadar leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, Zadar 70: Maastricht leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Maastricht and Zadar are level on 55.
Getting around. Maastricht 74, Zadar 58: Maastricht leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, Zadar 27: Maastricht leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, Zadar 52: Zadar leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, Zadar 28: Maastricht leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, Zadar 35: Maastricht leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Maastricht
52match

Wins on shopping and wellness 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.

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
MaastrichtZadar

Where the figures come from

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. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtZadar
Official languageDutchCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation49 m5 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtZadar
City population120,22770,779
People per km²2,000-
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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