VacationSelector
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Paphos or Zadar?

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

  • families
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Zadar for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zadar’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, Zadar 72: Paphos leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Paphos and Zadar are level on 45.
Culture & sights. Paphos 62, Zadar 55: Paphos leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Paphos and Zadar are level on 38.
Nature & outdoors. Paphos 70, Zadar 82: Zadar leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Paphos 64, Zadar 70: Zadar leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Paphos 68, Zadar 55: Paphos leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Paphos 40, Zadar 58: Zadar leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Paphos 25, Zadar 27: Zadar leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Paphos and Zadar are level on 52.
Live music & performing arts. Paphos 22, Zadar 28: Zadar leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paphos 42, Zadar 35: Paphos leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Paphos
50match

Wins on families and culture and sights with your weighting.

Zadar
51match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Zadar in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PaphosZadar

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.

Zadar 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). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePaphosZadar
Official languageTurkish, Greek, Modern GreekCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation72 m5 m
Main airportPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre59 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePaphosZadar
City population35,96170,779
People per km²1,987-
Museums within 10 km41
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Paphos or Zadar 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.