VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Athens or Seoul?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Athens leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Seoul 75: Athens leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Seoul 77: Athens leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Seoul 50: Athens leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Seoul 63: Athens leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Seoul.

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.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
AthensSeoul

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

Before you go

MeasureAthensSeoul
Official languageGreekKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation74 m38 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensSeoul
City population643,4529,668,465
People per km²16,49915,973
Museums within 10 km8881
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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