VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Francisco 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 San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. San Francisco 25, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Thessaloniki 77: San Francisco leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Thessaloniki 66: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Thessaloniki 50: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Thessaloniki 60: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Thessaloniki 50: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Thessaloniki 52: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Thessaloniki 33: San Francisco leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

San Francisco
59match

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

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °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
San FranciscoThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoThessaloniki
Official language-Greek
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation16 m6 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoThessaloniki
City population873,965309,617
People per km²1,45516,042
Museums within 10 km5132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 San Francisco 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.