VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Montpellier 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 Montpellier for

  • getting around
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Montpellier 64, Thessaloniki 55: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Thessaloniki 66: Montpellier leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Thessaloniki 74: Montpellier leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Thessaloniki 50: Montpellier leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Thessaloniki 60: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Thessaloniki 52: Montpellier leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Thessaloniki 33: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Montpellier
62match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MontpellierThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierThessaloniki
Official languageFrenchGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m6 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierThessaloniki
City population310,240309,617
People per km²5,45216,042
Museums within 10 km1432
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montpellier 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). 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.