VacationSelector
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Paphos 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 Paphos for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Valletta for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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. Paphos 76, Valletta 68: Paphos leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Paphos 45, Valletta 55: Valletta leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Paphos 62, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Paphos 38, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paphos 70, Valletta 56: Paphos leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Paphos 64, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Paphos 68, Valletta 58: Paphos leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Paphos 40, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Paphos 25, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Paphos 52, Valletta 50: Paphos leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paphos 22, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paphos 42, Valletta 32: Paphos leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paphos and Valletta.

Your match

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

Paphos
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Paphos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
PaphosValletta

Where the figures come from

Paphos has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePaphosValletta
Official languageTurkish, Greek, Modern GreekEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation72 m56 m
Main airportPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre58 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePaphosValletta
City population35,9615,197
People per km²1,9876,496
Museums within 10 km416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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