VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Rome 50, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Thessaloniki 77: Rome leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Thessaloniki 73: Rome leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Thessaloniki 74: Rome leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Rome and Thessaloniki are level on 50.
Getting around. Rome and Thessaloniki are level on 60.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Thessaloniki 50: Rome leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Thessaloniki 52: Rome leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Thessaloniki 33: Rome leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on prices 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeThessaloniki

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeThessaloniki
Official languageItalianGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m6 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeThessaloniki
City population2,748,109309,617
People per km²2,13516,042
Museums within 10 km17832
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km71
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome 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.