VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Riga 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 Riga for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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. Riga 40, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Riga and Thessaloniki are level on 50.
Getting around. Riga 68, Thessaloniki 60: Riga leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Riga 62, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, Thessaloniki 52: Riga leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga 50, Thessaloniki 33: Riga leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Riga
55match

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

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RigaThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaThessaloniki
Official languageLatvianGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m6 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaThessaloniki
City population588,911309,617
People per km²-16,042
Museums within 10 km1232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Riga 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. 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. 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.