VacationSelector
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Tirana 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 Tirana for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Valletta for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • families

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. Tirana 46, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Tirana 57, Valletta 55: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Tirana 42, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Tirana 58, Valletta 46: Tirana leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tirana 62, Valletta 56: Tirana leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Tirana 64, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Tirana 40, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Tirana 54, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Tirana 32, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Tirana 76, Valletta 50: Tirana leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tirana 32, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tirana 27, Valletta 32: Valletta leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tirana and Valletta.

Your match

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

Tirana
49match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
TiranaValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTiranaValletta
Official languageAlbanianEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyLek (ALL)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation110 m56 m
Main airportTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureTiranaValletta
City population389,3235,197
People per km²9,3146,496
Museums within 10 km1116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Tirana 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.