VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Edinburgh 22, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Valletta 46: Edinburgh leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Valletta 56: Edinburgh leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Valletta 58: Edinburgh leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Valletta 62: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Valletta 38: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Valletta 44: Edinburgh leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Valletta 32: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Valletta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 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
EdinburghValletta

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghValletta
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation47 m56 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghValletta
City population488,0505,197
People per km²1,8846,496
Museums within 10 km3216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.