Naples or Tirana?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on beaches & swimming and museums & heritage with your weighting.
Wins on value for money and nature & day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Naples if you want the sea 1km from the centre, a deep run of museums and UNESCO-listed day trips, and streets where most of the notable buildings are within walking distance.
Choose Tirana if parks, protected countryside and a wider range of kitchens matter more than swimming, and you do not mind that the coast is 26km away and the museum offering is thin.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Naples leads by 59 points.59
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 76 | 17 |
| Swim season months | 5 | 5 |
| Beaches 10 km | 29 | 0 |
| Coast distance | 1 km | 26 km |
| Water distance | 1 km | 26 km |
Places to eat. Tirana leads by 9 points.9
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 55 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,244 | 572 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 7 | 22 |
Museums & heritage. Naples leads by 53 points.53
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 25 |
| Museums within 10 km | 84 | 12 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 68 | 8 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 81 | 67 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 5 | 0 |
Nightlife. Naples leads by 8 points.8
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 66 | 58 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 1,389 | 945 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 964 | 683 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 69 | 72 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 40 | 29 |
Nature & day trips. Tirana leads by 12 points.12
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 37 | 49 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 7 | 11 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 3 |
| Land share of disc % | 56 | 83 |
| Park area within 2 km | 41 hectares | 147 hectares |
Good for families. Tirana leads by 11 points.11
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 41 | 52 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 11 | 21 |
| Park area within 2 km | 41 hectares | 147 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 0 |
Sights concentration. Naples leads by 25 points.25
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 78 | 53 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 351 | 83 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Tirana leads by 16 points.16
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 84 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 42.6 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €76 |
Year-round weather. Naples leads by 6 points.6
| Naples | Tirana | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 67 |
| Monthly daytime high | 13.1 °C to 31.4 °C | 11.6 °C to 30.7 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 17 mm to 159 mm | 43 mm to 172 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 0 |
Where they differ
The sea is 1km from Naples's centre, with 29 beaches nearby; Tirana has none and its coast is 26km out. Naples also has many times as many museums, 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, more notable buildings within walking distance, and 3 theme parks.
Tirana has far more park space near the centre and more tourist attractions there, with 11% of surrounding land protected against 7% around Naples. Its restaurants cover a wider range of kitchens, though Naples has more of them near its centre.
Where they are alike
The two weather years look almost the same: highs of 13-31°C in Naples and 12-31°C in Tirana, the same summer peak, and 5 months each with the sea at 21°C or more.
Evenings are close as well: both keep most bars and clubs near the centre, so a night out is walkable in either, and in both the restaurants are concentrated in the same central streets.
Which traveller are you?
If swimming shapes the trip, Naples: the sea is 1km from the centre, with 29 beaches within reach. Tirana has none, and its coast lies 26km away, so a beach holiday there means planning transport.
History-minded travellers also belong in Naples, which has many times as many museums as Tirana and 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, in a centre where the notable buildings sit close together.
Families and anyone who wants green space will get more from Tirana: more tourist attractions near the centre, far more park space and more protected land around the city, though Naples holds the theme parks.
What the numbers don't tell you
The €155 and €76 daily budgets are national estimates for Italy and Albania, covering restaurant and hotel price levels rather than either city. A capital or a heavily visited city can sit further from its own country's average than those two averages sit apart, so neither figure tells you what a day in Naples or Tirana costs.
Naples's swimming season and its busiest, hottest weeks are the same weeks: the sea is warmest when daytime highs reach 31°C. Going outside them means rain in both cities, up to 172mm a month in Tirana, so a quiet trip is usually a wet one.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Naples: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (28.3 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).
Naples is at its best from June to September. High summer is genuinely dry, 17-18mm of rain in July and August, with highs of 31°C and the sea up to 26°C. Autumn rain then builds fast.
Tirana works better in late spring and early autumn, with highs of 24-27°C; September is as dry there as in Naples, at 78mm. Summer is warm but wetter, and winter more so, 143mm in January against Naples's 89mm.
Getting there
| Flying from | Naples | Tirana |
|---|---|---|
| MilanMXP, BGY, LIN | 1 h 30 m €35-109 NAP · 7 km | 1 h 50 m €33-74 TIA · 13 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 2 h 10 m €108-170 NAP · 7 km | 2 h 30 m €73-102 1 stop TIA · 13 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 35 m €90-167 1 stop NAP · 7 km | 2 h 55 m €62-138 TIA · 13 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 5 m €167-197 1 stop NAP · 7 km | 1 h 35 m €100-109 TIA · 13 km |
| CataniaCTA | 1 h 5 m €36-65 NAP · 7 km | 1 h 20 m no fares TIA · 13 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 50 m €103-165 1 stop NAP · 7 km | 2 h 25 m €74-123 1 stop TIA · 13 km |
| AthensATH | 1 h 45 m €107-164 1 stop NAP · 7 km | 1 h 15 m €73-127 TIA · 13 km |
| WarsawWAW, WMI | 2 h 15 m no fares NAP · 7 km | 2 h 5 m €68-80 TIA · 13 km |
| VeniceVCE, TSF | 1 h 20 m €39-65 NAP · 7 km | 1 h 35 m no fares TIA · 13 km |
| Tel Aviv YafoTLV | 3 h 5 m no fares NAP · 7 km | 2 h 40 m €222-261 TIA · 13 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Naples | Tirana |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Albanian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Lek (ALL) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CF220 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 17 m | 110 m |
| Main airport | Naples International Airport (NAP)7 km from centre131 non-stop destinations | Tirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre129 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 14 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Naples | Tirana |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 913,462 | 389,323 |
| People per km² | 7,676 | 9,314 |
| Museums within 10 km | 65 | 11 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 5 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 31 | 46 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 5 months | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Naples or Tirana somewhere new.