VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
The Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square, Skopje
SkopjeThe Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Skopje by George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bologna or Skopje?

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 Bologna for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Skopje for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Skopje’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. Bologna 30, Skopje 6: Bologna leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Skopje 52: Bologna leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Skopje 56: Bologna leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Skopje 42: Bologna leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Skopje 70: Skopje leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Skopje 56: Bologna leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Skopje 35: Bologna leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Skopje 45: Bologna leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Skopje 40: Bologna leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Skopje 80: Skopje leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Skopje 38: Bologna leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna 40, Skopje 27: Bologna leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Skopje.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Skopje
46match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Skopje in July

32 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BolognaSkopje

Where the figures come from

Bologna 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.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Skopje 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.

Skopje's sunshine is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Skopje: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Skopje-Petrovec (18.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaSkopje
Official languageItalianAlbanian, Macedonian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Denar (MKD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation54 m251 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsSkopje International Airport (SKP)16 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaSkopje
City population387,971422,540
People per km²2,754739
Museums within 10 km6817
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30

Where else could you go?

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