VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Athens or Dubrovnik?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Dubrovnik for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Dubrovnik’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, Dubrovnik 74: Dubrovnik leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Dubrovnik 47: Athens leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Dubrovnik 72: Athens leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Dubrovnik 37: Athens leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Dubrovnik 70: Dubrovnik leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Dubrovnik 66: Athens leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Dubrovnik 50: Athens leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Dubrovnik 60: Athens leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Dubrovnik 25: Athens leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Dubrovnik 28: Athens leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Dubrovnik 25: Athens leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Dubrovnik 32: Athens leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Dubrovnik.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Dubrovnik
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AthensDubrovnik

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik 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.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensDubrovnik
Official languageGreekCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m10 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensDubrovnik
City population643,45241,562
People per km²16,499-
Museums within 10 km887
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Athens or Dubrovnik 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.