VacationSelector
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Plovdiv 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 Plovdiv for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zadar for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Plovdiv 7, Zadar 72: Zadar leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Plovdiv 50, Zadar 45: Plovdiv leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Plovdiv 66, Zadar 55: Plovdiv leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Plovdiv 42, Zadar 38: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Plovdiv 68, Zadar 82: Zadar leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Plovdiv and Zadar are level on 70.
Good for families. Plovdiv 40, Zadar 55: Zadar leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Plovdiv 65, Zadar 58: Plovdiv leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Plovdiv 33, Zadar 27: Plovdiv leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Plovdiv 78, Zadar 52: Plovdiv leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Plovdiv 42, Zadar 28: Plovdiv leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Plovdiv 44, Zadar 35: Plovdiv leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Plovdiv 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

Plovdiv
50match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Zadar
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Zadar in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PlovdivZadar

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv 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.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

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. Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePlovdivZadar
Official languageBulgarianCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation172 m5 m
Main airportPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasurePlovdivZadar
City population333,99470,779
People per km²3,274-
Museums within 10 km181
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Plovdiv 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.