VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

London 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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. London 25, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Thessaloniki 77: London leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Thessaloniki 73: London leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Thessaloniki 76: London leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 9 points.
Day trips. London 90, Thessaloniki 74: London leads by 16 points.
Good for families. London 82, Thessaloniki 50: London leads by 32 points.
Getting around. London 85, Thessaloniki 60: London leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Thessaloniki 50: London leads by 45 points.
Affordability. London 15, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Thessaloniki 52: London leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Thessaloniki 33: London leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on prices 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LondonThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonThessaloniki
Official languageEnglishGreek
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation4 m6 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonThessaloniki
City population8,799,728309,617
People per km²5,59816,042
Museums within 10 km21632
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.