VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Athens or Faro?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Faro leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Faro 48: Athens leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Faro 35: Athens leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Faro 32: Athens leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Faro 62: Athens leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Faro 64: Athens leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Faro 60: Faro leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Faro 60: Athens leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Faro 35: Athens leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Faro 60: Faro leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Faro 30: Athens leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Faro 33: Athens leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AthensFaro

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensFaro
Official languageGreekPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m10 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensFaro
City population643,45264,560
People per km²16,499319
Museums within 10 km882
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens or Faro 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.