VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain.

Athens or Auckland?

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 Athens for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Auckland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Auckland’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. Athens 70, Auckland 68: Athens leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Auckland 62: Athens leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Auckland 44: Athens leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Auckland 42: Athens leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Auckland 83: Auckland leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Auckland 55: Athens leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Auckland 70: Auckland leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Auckland 42: Athens leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Auckland 45: Athens leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Auckland 32: Athens leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Auckland 45: Athens leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Auckland 45: Auckland leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Auckland.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Auckland
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Auckland in July

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AthensAuckland

Where the figures come from

Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensAuckland
Official languageGreekEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation74 m196 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensAuckland
City population643,4521,470,100
People per km²16,4992,630
Museums within 10 km8815
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens or Auckland 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.