VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Helsinki 28, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Valletta 46: Helsinki leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Valletta 56: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Valletta 58: Helsinki leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Valletta 62: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Valletta 38: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Valletta 44: Helsinki leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Valletta 32: Helsinki leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Valletta.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness and getting around 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiValletta
Official languageFinnish, SwedishEnglish, 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
Elevation17 m56 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiValletta
City population694,3925,197
People per km²3,2396,496
Museums within 10 km7416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Helsinki 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.