VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Athens or Chicago?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Chicago for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Athens leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Chicago 78: Athens leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Chicago 77: Athens leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Chicago 48: Athens leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Chicago 42: Athens leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Chicago 33: Athens leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Chicago 33: Athens leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Chicago
62match

Wins on families 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.

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AthensChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensChicago
Official languageGreek-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation74 m179 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensChicago
City population643,4522,746,388
People per km²16,4994,529
Museums within 10 km8844
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Chicago 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.