VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Avignon or Sofia?

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 Avignon for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Sofia for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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. Avignon 22, Sofia 5: Avignon leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Sofia 45: Avignon leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Sofia 60: Avignon leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Sofia 60: Avignon leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Sofia 40: Avignon leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon and Sofia are level on 38.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Sofia 50: Avignon leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Avignon
53match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonSofia

Where the figures come from

Avignon has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonSofia
Official languageFrenchBulgarian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m560 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonSofia
City population92,1881,213,134
People per km²1,4202,466
Museums within 10 km1142
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61

Where else could you go?

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