VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Athens or Valletta?

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

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Valletta for

Valletta does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Athens leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Valletta 55: Athens leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Valletta 76: Athens leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Valletta 46: Athens leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Valletta 56: Athens leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Valletta 76: Athens leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Athens and Valletta are level on 58.
Getting around. Athens 66, Valletta 62: Athens leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Valletta 38: Athens leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Valletta 50: Athens leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Valletta 44: Athens leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Valletta 32: Athens leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Valletta.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AthensValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensValletta
Official languageGreekEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m56 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensValletta
City population643,4525,197
People per km²16,4996,496
Museums within 10 km8816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens or Valletta 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.