VacationSelector
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

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

Thessaloniki 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 Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

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. Thessaloniki 55, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Thessaloniki 77, Valletta 55: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Thessaloniki 73, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Thessaloniki 76, Valletta 46: Thessaloniki leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Thessaloniki 66, Valletta 56: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Thessaloniki 74, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Thessaloniki 50, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Thessaloniki 60, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Thessaloniki 50, Valletta 38: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Thessaloniki 66, Valletta 50: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Thessaloniki 52, Valletta 44: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Thessaloniki 33, Valletta 32: Thessaloniki leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ThessalonikiValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureThessalonikiValletta
Official languageGreekEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m56 m
Main airportThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureThessalonikiValletta
City population309,6175,197
People per km²16,0426,496
Museums within 10 km3216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Thessaloniki 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.