VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Thessaloniki?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Thessaloniki 50: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Thessaloniki 60: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Thessaloniki 33: Alicante leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteThessaloniki
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 m6 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteThessaloniki
City population366,221309,617
People per km²1,81916,042
Museums within 10 km832
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Thessaloniki 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.