VacationSelector
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Thessaloniki or Zagreb?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Thessaloniki leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Thessaloniki 77, Zagreb 55: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Thessaloniki 73, Zagreb 56: Thessaloniki leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Thessaloniki 76, Zagreb 47: Thessaloniki leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Thessaloniki 66, Zagreb 62: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Thessaloniki 74, Zagreb 60: Thessaloniki leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Thessaloniki 50, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Thessaloniki 60, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Thessaloniki 50, Zagreb 40: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Thessaloniki 66, Zagreb 60: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Thessaloniki and Zagreb are level on 52.
Wellness & relaxation. Thessaloniki and Zagreb are level on 33.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on getting around 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ThessalonikiZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureThessalonikiZagreb
Official languageGreekCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m127 m
Main airportThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureThessalonikiZagreb
City population309,617767,131
People per km²16,042-
Museums within 10 km3227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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