VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • 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. Kyoto 15, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Thessaloniki 77: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Thessaloniki 73: Kyoto leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Thessaloniki 66: Kyoto leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Thessaloniki 74: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Thessaloniki 50: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Thessaloniki 60: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Thessaloniki 50: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Thessaloniki 52: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Thessaloniki 33: Kyoto leads by 37 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoThessaloniki

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoThessaloniki
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
Elevation51 m6 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoThessaloniki
City population1,463,723309,617
People per km²1,76816,042
Museums within 10 km7732
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Thessaloniki somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.