Runs the scoring program behind every ranking on the site, and writes the world, month, solo and budget lists that come out of it.
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August looks like July with the volume turned down on the rain. The ten cities below have daytime highs between 69°F (20.6°C) in Copenhagen and 84°F (28.8°C) in Lisbon, and nine of the ten have fewer rainy days than they do in July. The losers are the inland cities of the south: Florence, Rome and Madrid all score between 6.1 and 6.6 for August weather, too hot by our formula to make the ten despite strong Snack Scores.
Porto leads again on a perfect weather score, 10 out of 10, and a one-night cost of $58 (£43). Behind it the order shifts. Kraków, drier than in July, closes to within 0.16 points. Prague climbs above Paris. Berlin, whose 9.4 for weather is the best of the ten after Porto, takes ninth, and Bath drops out. The month score is 40% weather and 60% Snack Score, so a city needs both to sit near the top.
At a glance
Best overall
Porto, 8.74: a perfect August weather score and a one-night cost of $58 (£43)
Closest challenger
Kraków, 8.58, with 12.1 rainy days against July's 14.6
Driest and sunniest
Lisbon: 0.5 rainy days and 12.4 hours of sunshine a day
New this month
Berlin, on a 9.4 weather score, the best of the ten after Porto
Fastest from London
Paris by Eurostar, 136 minutes
Too hot to rank
Florence, Rome and Madrid, August weather scores of 6.6, 6.5 and 6.1
The ranking
Score = 40% this month’s weather + 60% the Snack Score, plus a market bonus in November and December for cities with a Christmas market. No more than 3 cities from one region. How we score
Porto holds first with the same perfect weather score it has in July: highs of 77°F (24.8°C) and just 2.4 rainy days in August. Cost does the rest. Its one-night cost is $58 (£43), a central room was $111 (£83) on our June Friday, and the Andante Tour 1 ticket, $8.70 (£6.50; €7.75), covers 24 hours on the whole network, airport metro included. Book Livraria Lello for the 9 a.m. opening, $17.90 (£13.40; €15.95), a voucher you can spend on a book. From the US, nonstops leave JFK, Newark and Boston.
Kraków's August is drier than its July, 12.1 rainy days against 14.6, and that halves its gap to Porto. Highs reach 77°F (24.9°C). The case for it is cost and speed: a cost factor of 9.4, the best of the ten, and a 17-minute SKA1 train from the airport. The limit is time. Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine each take most of a day, so one night cannot hold them and the city. Schindler's Factory, $15.40 (£11.50; PLN 60), sells a limited number of tickets and closes all day on the first Tuesday of the month.
London's August weather score, 9.3, is higher than its July one: highs of 73°F (22.6°C) and 8.8 rainy days. The sights and the evening carry it. The Abbey, the South Bank, Tate Modern and St Paul's sit on one walk, and Tate Modern opens to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, free. Arrival is simple: the Elizabeth line runs from Heathrow to Tottenham Court Road in 32 minutes for $21 (£15.50). What holds it below Kraków is money. A one-night cost of $129 (£97) gives London a cost factor of 3.6, the lowest of the ten.
Prague moves up to fourth in August on a 9.0 weather score, with highs of 78°F (25.8°C) and 10.4 rainy days. Its one-night cost, $58 (£43), ties Porto's, behind only Kraków. Be at the castle when the buildings open at 9 a.m.; the Main circuit ticket, $21 (£15.50; CZK 450), is valid for two days and covers St. Vitus Cathedral and Golden Lane. Lunch is svíčková at Lokál Dlouhááá and the evening is dark lager at U Fleků. Food scores 6.5, joint lowest of the ten with Berlin, and that is the catch.
Paris scores 8.36 in August, exactly as in July, and Prague passes it. Highs of 78°F (25.5°C) and 9.6 rainy days give a weather score of 9.2. The late Louvre is the August tool: the Friday opening to 9 p.m. turns a 4 p.m. entry into an evening visit, and the museum recommends a timed slot for everyone. One stop has gone from the food map: the Marais covered market, the Marché des Enfants Rouges, shut after a fire on October 11-12, 2026 and has not reopened. A fixed taxi from the airport to the Right Bank is $63 (£47; €56).
Copenhagen holds 69°F (20.6°C) in August, as in July, with fewer rainy days, 11.9, for a weather score of 8.7. The 14-minute metro gives it a perfect 10 for arrival, and the City Pass, $15 (£11.20; DKK 100), covers 24 hours on every metro line including the airport. Lunch is smørrebrød at Torvehallerne by Nørreport; the evening is Tivoli in its summer season, then dinner in Kødbyen. The cost factor of 4.2 is what keeps a city with an 8.5 for food in sixth: a central room was $269 (£202) on our June Friday.
Vienna is warm in August, 81°F (27.1°C), but drier than in July, with 8.8 rainy days and a weather score of 8.8. Central-district rooms were $78 (£58) on our June Friday. Arrival needs one note: the S-Bahn trunk line through the center is closed from September 7, 2026 to the end of October 2027, so the City Airport Train runs as a bus to Wien Mitte. The Railjet to Hauptbahnhof, from $4.60 (£3.40; €4.10), is the faster choice. Schönbrunn's State Apartments audio tour is $34 (£25; €30) and takes about 40 minutes.
Venice ties Lisbon for the hottest afternoons on this list, 84°F (28.7°C), and has the warmest nights, 69°F (20.6°C); its weather score, 8.2, is the lowest of the ten. A Snack Score of 8.0 keeps it here. The 2027 access-fee calendar ends on August 15, so later in the month day-trippers pay nothing. Arrive by noon, Tuesday to Saturday, for cicchetti at Cantina Do Mori and the Rialto fish market, which closes at 2 p.m. The ACTV Daily Pass is $28 (£21; €25) for 24 hours on the vaporetti.
Berlin enters in August on the second-best weather score of the ten, 9.4: highs of 77°F (25°C) and 8.4 rainy days. Its Snack Score, 7.2, is the lowest here, because our page hedges. The plan is 9.2 miles (14.8 km), the longest on the list, and covers Mitte and Kreuzberg, not all of Berlin. Register in advance for the Reichstag dome, which is free but needs a slot. Konnopke's Imbiss, the currywurst stop, is closed on Sundays and Mondays. The FEX reaches Hauptbahnhof from the airport in 23 minutes.
Lisbon takes the last place on a weather score of 8.6. It is the driest city here, 0.5 rainy days, and the sunniest, 12.4 hours a day, but at 84°F (28.8°C) the heat costs it points. Start early: the Jerónimos cloister opens at 9:30 a.m., $20 (£15.10; €18), and the custard tarts at Pastéis de Belém are three minutes away. São Jorge Castle stays open to 9 p.m. until the end of October, so climb it after 6 p.m. A Baixa room was $127 (£95) on our June Friday.
Our August list blends two numbers: 40% the city's August weather, from Open-Meteo records for 2016 to 2025, and 60% its Snack Score, which rates the one-night trip on sights, food, the evening, the route, the airport ride and the cost. A month list may hold no more than three cities from one region, but in August that rule changes nothing: the ten would be the same without it. York, on 7.96, Bath, on 7.92, and Amsterdam, on 7.90, simply finish just behind Lisbon's 8.06. The formulas are in how we score cities.
What changes from July
Rain is the difference. Kraków drops from 14.6 rainy days to 12.1, London from 10.5 to 8.8, Vienna from 10.4 to 8.8. That lifts the central and northern cities a little, and the order reshuffles behind Porto: Prague overtakes Paris, Copenhagen passes Lisbon, and Berlin's 9.4 weather score brings it into ninth. Bath, tenth in July, misses by a whisker.
Heat is the constant. Florence's weather score falls from 6.9 in July to 6.6 in August, so a city with the highest Snack Score in Europe, 8.6, finishes 15th of 26. If you want Italy this month, Venice is the Italian city in the ten, and its afternoons still reach 84°F. For a cooler trip, Copenhagen and London stay at 73°F or below.
Dates that matter in August
August 15: the last day of the Venice access-fee calendar for 2027, which runs on 72 set days from March 26, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The city will publish the 2027 rules by December 31, 2026. It is also one of three days a year when the Pantheon in Rome is closed.
All month: Copenhagen's Tivoli is open for its 2027 summer season, which runs from March 30 to September 26.
Every Friday: the Louvre stays open to 9 p.m., and Tate Modern stays open to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Plan the arrival day around a Friday.
Every Monday: Jerónimos in Lisbon, Wawel's castle routes in Kraków and the Accademia in Venice are closed. Konnopke's in Berlin is also closed on Sundays.
What an August night costs
We checked hotel prices for two Fridays, January 15 and June 11, 2027, not for August, so use the June column as the summer guide. The one-night cost is half the average of those two rooms, plus the airport ride both ways and a day ticket, and it feeds the score. Here are the ten, cheapest first:
City
June 11 room
One-night cost
Kraków
$77 (£58)
$50 (£37)
Porto
$111 (£83)
$58 (£43)
Prague
$125 (£94)
$58 (£43)
Lisbon
$127 (£95)
$66 (£49)
Vienna
$78 (£58)
$67 (£50)
Berlin
$124 (£93)
$74 (£55)
Paris
$162 (£121)
$110 (£82)
Venice
$168 (£126)
$110 (£82)
Copenhagen
$269 (£202)
$117 (£88)
London
$186 (£139)
$129 (£97)
Vienna is the outlier: its June room cost almost the same as its January one. Entry tickets are not in the one-night cost; the city pages add them up. For a ranking on cost alone, see the cheap city breaks in Europe.
Getting there in August
From central London, Paris is the only city on this list without a flight: Eurostar takes 136 minutes from St Pancras. By air, our door-to-door estimate, which adds two hours on the London side and the airport ride at the other end, puts Copenhagen fastest at about 4 hours 15 minutes and Lisbon slowest at about 5 hours. From the US, London and Paris have nonstops from all ten hubs we track, Copenhagen has nine of them and Lisbon eight; Berlin has two, Newark and JFK in season.
The EU's Entry/Exit System has run at Schengen borders since April 10, 2026, so expect fingerprints and a photo on a first trip. ETIAS has no start date yet and will cost $22 (£16.80; €20). For London, US citizens need a UK ETA, $27 (£20). If Berlin is your pick, our 24 hours in Berlin plan covers the dome registration.
Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I go in Europe for a city break in August?
Porto, on our scores: 8.74 for August, with a perfect weather score and a one-night cost of $58 (£43). Kraków is second and cheaper still, and London is third.
Which European cities are not too hot in August?
Copenhagen, with highs of 69°F (20.6°C), and London, at 73°F (22.6°C), are the coolest on the list. Venice and Lisbon reach 84°F (28.7°C and 28.8°C). Florence, Rome and Madrid miss the ten because of the heat.
Is August a good time to visit Berlin?
For weather, yes: its August score of 9.4 is second only to Porto's among the ten, with 8.4 rainy days. It ranks ninth because its one-night plan is long, 9.2 miles, and the Reichstag dome needs advance registration.
Do you pay the Venice access fee in August?
Only up to August 15 in 2027, the last of the 72 fee days, and only on the listed days from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In 2026 overnight guests were exempt if they requested it.
What is the quickest European city break from London in August?
Paris by Eurostar, 136 minutes from St Pancras. By air, Copenhagen comes out fastest door to door, at about 4 hours 15 minutes including the trip to the airport and the 14-minute metro into town.
Further reading
Official sources
Open-Meteo historical weather archive– Source of our 2016-2025 monthly highs, lows, rainy days and sunshine hours used in the August score; dataset built October 2026
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