VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches

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. Lisbon 50, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Valletta 55: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Valletta 76: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Valletta 46: Lisbon leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Valletta 56: Lisbon leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Valletta 76: Lisbon leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Valletta 58: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Valletta 62: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Valletta 38: Lisbon leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Valletta 50: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Valletta 44: Lisbon leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Valletta 32: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonValletta
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m56 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonValletta
City population545,7965,197
People per km²5,4536,496
Museums within 10 km8016
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 Lisbon 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.