VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License.

Alicante or Athens?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

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

Choose Athens for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Athens’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. Alicante 82, Athens 70: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Athens 78: Athens leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Athens 88: Athens leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Athens 80: Athens leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Athens 64: Athens leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Athens 85: Athens leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Athens 58: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Alicante and Athens are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Athens 55: Athens leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Athens 56: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Athens 64: Athens leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Athens 42: Athens leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Athens.

Your match

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

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteAthens

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteAthens
Official languageSpanishGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m74 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteAthens
City population366,221643,452
People per km²1,81916,499
Museums within 10 km888
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Athens 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.