VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Athens or Lisbon?

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
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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, Lisbon 50: Athens leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Lisbon 75: Athens leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Lisbon 78: Athens leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Lisbon 75: Athens leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Lisbon 82: Athens leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Lisbon 62: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Athens and Lisbon are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Lisbon 55: Athens leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Lisbon 60: Athens leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Lisbon 36: Athens leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Athens
67match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Lisbon
65match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and shopping 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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AthensLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensLisbon
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 m100 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensLisbon
City population643,452545,796
People per km²16,4995,453
Museums within 10 km8880
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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