VacationSelector
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Porto or Thessaloniki?

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 Porto for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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. Porto 40, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Porto 70, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Porto 68, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Porto 65, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Porto 64, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Porto 79, Thessaloniki 74: Porto leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Porto 52, Thessaloniki 50: Porto leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Porto 66, Thessaloniki 60: Porto leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Porto 52, Thessaloniki 50: Porto leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Porto 62, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Porto and Thessaloniki are level on 52.
Wellness & relaxation. Porto 34, Thessaloniki 33: Porto leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Porto
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
PortoThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortoThessaloniki
Official languagePortugueseGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation104 m6 m
Main airportFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortoThessaloniki
City population273,476309,617
People per km²6,60616,042
Museums within 10 km4232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Porto or Thessaloniki 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.