VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Athens or London?

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
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose London for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: Athens leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, London 84: London leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, London 94: London leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, London 88: London leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, London 57: Athens leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, London 90: London leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, London 82: London leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, London 85: London leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, London 95: London leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, London 15: Athens leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, London 98: London leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, London 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 London.

Your match

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

Athens
67match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AthensLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensLondon
Official languageGreekEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation74 m4 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensLondon
City population643,4528,799,728
People per km²16,4995,598
Museums within 10 km88216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
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 London 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.