VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fukuoka or Thessaloniki?

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 Fukuoka for

  • families
  • wellness
  • getting around

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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. Fukuoka 50, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Thessaloniki 77: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Thessaloniki 74: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Thessaloniki 50: Fukuoka leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Thessaloniki 60: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Thessaloniki 50: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Thessaloniki 33: Fukuoka leads by 27 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaThessaloniki
Official languageJapaneseGreek
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaThessaloniki
City population1,603,043309,617
People per km²4,71516,042
Museums within 10 km2332
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka or Thessaloniki 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.