What Are the Warmest Cities in Greece?

Greece attracts many tourists to enjoy its ancient sites, beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters, and hiking trails. Combine that with reliably sunny weather most of the year due to its Mediterranean climate and it’s no wonder that Greece is such a popular destination.

In this article I’ll share with you my list of the warmest Greek cities with at least 15,000 residents. I’ll cover the top 10 in more detail and then present the entire ranking in a table with 44 major cities in the country.

Top 10 Warmest Cities in Greece

Here are the top 10 warmest places in Greece, including mainland Greece and Greek islands. The places are ranked by their annual daily mean temperature. Each city also includes temperatures in January and July. All ten cities provides relatively warm weather even in the coldest months, with Greek islands offering the mildest conditions.

1. Rhodes – 20.6 °C

The city of Rhodes on the island of Rhodes, just 20 km from the Turkish coast, is the warmest city in Greece. It’s the easternmost Greek island and one of the warmest in winter months, with average high temperatures of 15-18 °C.

Rhodes features a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with rainless summers. Sun is guaranteed to shine 100% of the time in the hottest months of July and August. Rhodes is the warmest Greek island but blessed with more moderate summers. It may be considered the best Greek island in the summer for sunny, hot but not suffocating hot weather like in Athens.

Average high temperature in January: 15.5 °C

Average high temperature in July: 30.2 °C

2. Ierapetra – 19.45 °C

Ierapetra, a town on the south coast of Crete, is the second hottest place in Greece. With up to 3,100 sunshine hours a year, it’s considered the sunniest city in Greece out of all the Greek islands and the mainland. It also has the mildest winters out of all places in Greece, seeing average daytime temperatures of 16-18 °C and average lows of 9-11 °C in the off-season months of December-February. Mild winter temperatures make Crete one of the best Greek islands for weather.

Average high temperature in January: 16.1 °C

Average high temperature in July: 32 °C

3. Piraeus – 19.35 °C

Piraeus is a port city in the Athens-Piraeus metropolitan area. It’s the hottest place in Greece that’s not located on an island. While it has lower winter temperatures than Rhodes and Crete, it has hotter summers. Piraeus enjoys a hot semi-arid climate. That means that it’s less rainy than the two islands. Winters, despite lower temperatures, may be more comfortable due to fewer rainy days.

Average high temperature in January: 14.1 °C

Average high temperature in July: 32.8 °C

4. Athens – 19.15 °C

The largest city in Greece, Athens, is such a large city that there are notable differences between the northern suburbs of the city and the southern ones. The ones in the south are usually drier and hotter while the northern ones are wetter and cooler, particularly in winter.

The city as a whole is still one of the warmest areas of Greece, with a yearly daily mean temperature much higher than in the hottest islands of Greece except for Rhodes and Crete. The drawback of the climate in Athens is that in the tourist season it has extremely high temperatures. Out of big European cities, it has by far the most sweltering temperatures.

Elefesina, a suburban city in the Athens Metropolitan Area, holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Greece: 48 °C.

Average high temperature in January: 13.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 34.3 °C

5. Cholargos – 18.55 °C

Cholargos is one of the cities forming the Athens-Piraeus urban area. It has slightly warmer winters than downtown Athens and cooler summers.

Average high temperature in January: 14.2 °C

Average high temperature in July: 33.4 °C

6. Voula – 18.35 °C

Voula is a southern suburb of Athens. Because it’s located on the coast, it has more moderate temperatures in the summer.

Average high temperature in January: 13.1 °C

Average high temperature in July: 31.6 °C

7. Heraklion – 18.3 °C

Heraklion is the capital city of Crete, the southernmost of the Greek islands. Because it’s located on the northern coast of the island, it has a cooler and less sunny climate than Ierapetra in the south. Since its climate is more moderate, it has the best weather in Greece: mild in winter and not unbearably hot in the summer as other places on this list.

Average high temperature in January: 15.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 28.7 °C

8. Chalcis – 18.15 °C

Chalcis is the main town of the island of Evvia, the second largest island of Greece after Crete. Evvia is separated from mainland Greece by the very narrow Euripus Strait, so on the map it doesn’t even appear as an island. The climate of Chalcis borders on semi-arid, giving it less rainy weather than in Rhodes and Crete. With high summer temperatures, Evvia is one of the hottest Greek islands.

Average high temperature in January: 12.9 °C

Average high temperature in July: 32.6 °C

9. Alimos – 18.15 °C

Alimos is a small suburban seaside town near Athens. It gets more pleasant summer months than Athens, with average high temperatures about two degrees lower.

Average high temperature in January: 13.2 °C

Average high temperature in July: 32.2 °C

10. Elliniko – 18.15 °C

Elliniko neighbors Alimos and features a very similar climate, with the same annual daily average temperature. It’s slightly warmer in the winter and slightly cooler in the summer.

Average high temperature in January: 13.6 °C

Average high temperature in July: 31.8 °C

Top 44 Warmest Greek Cities Ranked by the Average Temperature

Here’s a table with 44 major Greek cities that have at least 15,000 residents. Many cities are missing because I couldn’t find climate data for them. The data comes from several sources, but primarily from The Hellenic National Meteorological Service.

You may also be interested in articles about the warmest cities in other European countries.

I also wrote an article on where it’s warm all year round in Europe. You may also want to read my article What’s the Hottest Country in Europe?