VacationSelector
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock
The Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square, Skopje
SkopjeThe Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square

Photos: Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Skopje by George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Petra or Skopje?

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 Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Skopje for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Skopje’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. Petra 5, Skopje 6: Skopje leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Petra 22, Skopje 52: Skopje leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Petra 85, Skopje 56: Petra leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Petra 5, Skopje 42: Skopje leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Petra 78, Skopje 70: Petra leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Petra 30, Skopje 56: Skopje leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Petra 25, Skopje 35: Skopje leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Petra 25, Skopje 45: Skopje leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Petra 18, Skopje 40: Skopje leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Petra 45, Skopje 80: Skopje leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Petra 10, Skopje 38: Skopje leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Petra 28, Skopje 27: Petra leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Petra and Skopje.

Your match

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

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Skopje
Best match
46match

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.

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Skopje in July

32 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
PetraSkopje

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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.

Skopje 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.

Skopje's sunshine is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre). Skopje: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Skopje-Petrovec (18.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePetraSkopje
Official languageArabicAlbanian, Macedonian
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Denar (MKD)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation850 m251 m
Main airportKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsSkopje International Airport (SKP)16 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePetraSkopje
City population-422,540
People per km²-739
Museums within 10 km217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Petra or Skopje 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.