VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Athens or Philadelphia?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Athens leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Philadelphia 62: Athens leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Philadelphia 72: Athens leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Philadelphia 55: Athens leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Philadelphia 52: Athens leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Philadelphia 80: Athens leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Athens and Philadelphia are level on 66.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Philadelphia 40: Athens leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Philadelphia 26: Athens leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on families 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AthensPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensPhiladelphia
Official languageGreek-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation74 m12 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensPhiladelphia
City population643,4521,603,797
People per km²16,4994,339
Museums within 10 km8854
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Philadelphia 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.