VacationSelector
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sharm el-Sheikh 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 Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’s own page.

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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. Sharm el-Sheikh 87, Thessaloniki 55: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 47 points.
Culture & sights. Sharm el-Sheikh 12, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Sharm el-Sheikh 42, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sharm el-Sheikh 82, Thessaloniki 66: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Sharm el-Sheikh 62, Thessaloniki 50: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Sharm el-Sheikh 22, Thessaloniki 60: Thessaloniki leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Sharm el-Sheikh 25, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Sharm el-Sheikh 74, Thessaloniki 66: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sharm el-Sheikh 10, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sharm el-Sheikh 50, Thessaloniki 33: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sharm el-Sheikh and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 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

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
Sharm el-SheikhThessaloniki

Where the figures come from

Sharm el-Sheikh has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSharm el-SheikhThessaloniki
Official languageArabicGreek
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180112
Elevation1 m6 m
Main airportSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSharm el-SheikhThessaloniki
City population73,000309,617
People per km²-16,042
Museums within 10 km132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sharm el-Sheikh or Thessaloniki somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.