Southern Europe
The Mediterranean's cities, west to east, ending on the Bosphorus. 5 stops, 3,480 km end to end as the crow flies.
The stops, in order
-
Lisbon
Portugal · best May, Jun, Jul
-
Barcelona
Spain · best Jun, Jul, Aug
-
Rome
Italy · best Jun, Jul, Aug
-
Athens
Greece · best May, Sep, Oct
-
Istanbul
Turkey · best May, Jun, Jul
Month by month
| Place | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | 14° | 15° | 16° | 19° | 22° | 24° | 26° | 27° | 25° | 22° | 17° | 15° |
| Barcelona | 12° | 14° | 15° | 17° | 20° | 25° | 27° | 28° | 24° | 21° | 16° | 14° |
| Rome | 13° | 14° | 15° | 18° | 21° | 27° | 29° | 30° | 25° | 22° | 17° | 14° |
| Athens | 13° | 14° | 16° | 20° | 25° | 30° | 33° | 32° | 29° | 23° | 19° | 15° |
| Istanbul | 9° | 10° | 11° | 15° | 20° | 25° | 27° | 28° | 24° | 20° | 16° | 12° |
| Sweet spots | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high, from the same ten years of climate readings its page is built from. A dot marks a busy month. The last row counts the sweet spots, and the best months are marked.
Between the stops
| Lisbon → Barcelona | 994 km, about 2h 08m in the air Nonstop, about 14 a day · 5 airlines By bus: about 11h 34m · BlaBlaCar Bus · AVE 03191 |
|---|---|
| Barcelona → Rome | 848 km, about 1h 57m in the air Nonstop, about 15 a day · 4 airlines By train: about 14h 31m · TGV INOUI 9708 · FlixBus N425 By bus: about 20h 48m · FlixBus N522 · FlixBus N728 By road: 1,350 km, about 14h 09m |
| Rome → Athens | 1,085 km, about 2h 14m in the air Nonstop, about 9 a day · 4 airlines By bus: about 44h 37m · Tirana to Athens · Belgrade to Prishtina By road: 1,418 km, about 22h 59m |
| Athens → Istanbul | 553 km, about 1h 35m in the air |
Distances are great-circle and the flight time is estimated from them. A road, train or bus line is listed only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, trains and buses from public timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each stop's page are where prices live.
Trips that share stops
Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. Nothing is said about Southern Europe as a whole that was not first measured at each place in it.