VacationSelector
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Thessaloniki or Wilmington?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Thessaloniki 77, Wilmington 48: Thessaloniki leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Thessaloniki 73, Wilmington 40: Thessaloniki leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Thessaloniki 76, Wilmington 40: Thessaloniki leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Thessaloniki 66, Wilmington 58: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Thessaloniki 74, Wilmington 45: Thessaloniki leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Thessaloniki 50, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Thessaloniki 60, Wilmington 28: Thessaloniki leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Thessaloniki 50, Wilmington 33: Thessaloniki leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Thessaloniki 66, Wilmington 42: Thessaloniki leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Thessaloniki 52, Wilmington 40: Thessaloniki leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Thessaloniki and Wilmington are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Thessaloniki and Wilmington.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ThessalonikiWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureThessalonikiWilmington
Official languageGreek-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m9 m
Main airportThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureThessalonikiWilmington
City population309,617115,451
People per km²16,042839
Museums within 10 km322
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Wilmington 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.