VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Rome or Valletta?

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

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Valletta 55: Rome leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Valletta 76: Rome leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Valletta 46: Rome leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Valletta 56: Rome leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Valletta 76: Rome leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Valletta 38: Rome leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Valletta 44: Rome leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Valletta 32: Rome leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeValletta
Official languageItalianEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m56 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeValletta
City population2,748,1095,197
People per km²2,1356,496
Museums within 10 km17816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km73
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months6 months

Where else could you go?

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