VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Athens or Osaka?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Osaka for

  • families
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Athens leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Osaka 63: Athens leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Athens and Osaka are level on 80.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Osaka 58: Athens leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Osaka.

Your match

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

Athens
67match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on families 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AthensOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensOsaka
Official languageGreekJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation74 m20 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensOsaka
City population643,4522,751,862
People per km²16,49912,340
Museums within 10 km8844
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km26
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 Osaka 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.