VacationSelector
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Tirana 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 Tirana for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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. Tirana 46, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Tirana 57, Wilmington 48: Tirana leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Tirana 42, Wilmington 40: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Tirana 58, Wilmington 40: Tirana leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tirana 62, Wilmington 58: Tirana leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Tirana 64, Wilmington 45: Tirana leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Tirana 40, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Tirana 54, Wilmington 28: Tirana leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Tirana 32, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Tirana 76, Wilmington 42: Tirana leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tirana 32, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tirana 27, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tirana and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Tirana
Best match
49match

Wins on prices and getting around 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.

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

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
TiranaWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTiranaWilmington
Official languageAlbanian-
CurrencyLek (ALL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation110 m9 m
Main airportTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureTiranaWilmington
City population389,323115,451
People per km²9,314839
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 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.