VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Athens or Bologna?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Bologna for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Bologna’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, Bologna 30: Athens leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Bologna 82: Bologna leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Bologna 77: Athens leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Bologna 58: Athens leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Bologna 52: Athens leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Bologna 95: Bologna leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Bologna 50: Athens leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Bologna 76: Bologna leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Athens and Bologna are level on 55.
Affordability. Athens 56, Bologna 48: Athens leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Bologna 60: Athens leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Bologna 40: Athens leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Bologna.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Bologna
60match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AthensBologna

Where the figures come from

Bologna 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.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensBologna
Official languageGreekItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m54 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensBologna
City population643,452387,971
People per km²16,4992,754
Museums within 10 km8868
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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