VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Athens or Tampa?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Tampa for

  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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 and Tampa are level on 70.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Tampa 57: Athens leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Tampa 42: Athens leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Tampa 52: Athens leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Tampa 55: Athens leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Tampa 54: Athens leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Tampa 22: Athens leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Tampa 40: Athens leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Tampa 40: Athens leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Tampa 47: Athens leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Tampa 30: Athens leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on families 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AthensTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensTampa
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 m30 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensTampa
City population643,452384,959
People per km²16,499848
Museums within 10 km886
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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