VacationSelector
The old harbour in Kaleiçi, Antalya
AntalyaThe old harbour in Kaleiçi
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Antalya by Furkan Tumer, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antalya 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 Antalya for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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. Antalya 82, Thessaloniki 55: Antalya leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Antalya 57, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Antalya 55, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Antalya 48, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antalya 83, Thessaloniki 66: Antalya leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Antalya 78, Thessaloniki 74: Antalya leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Antalya 74, Thessaloniki 50: Antalya leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Antalya 50, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Antalya 44, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Antalya 62, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antalya 40, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antalya 62, Thessaloniki 33: Antalya leads by 29 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Antalya
61match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Antalya in July

35 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AntalyaThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antalya: 1991-2020 normals, Antalya (23.4 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntalyaThessaloniki
Official languageTurkishGreek
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation30 m6 m
Main airportAntalya International Airport (AYT)9 km from centre172 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntalyaThessaloniki
City population2,426,356309,617
People per km²1,71216,042
Museums within 10 km532
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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