VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License.

Adelaide or Amsterdam?

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 Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Amsterdam for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Amsterdam’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. Adelaide 68, Amsterdam 25: Adelaide leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Amsterdam 58: Adelaide leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Amsterdam 82: Amsterdam leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Amsterdam 77: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Amsterdam 47: Adelaide leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Amsterdam 87: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Amsterdam 72: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Amsterdam 86: Amsterdam leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Amsterdam 68: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Amsterdam 22: Adelaide leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Amsterdam 78: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide and Amsterdam are level on 42.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Amsterdam.

Your match

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

Adelaide
56match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideAmsterdam

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideAmsterdam
Official languageEnglishDutch
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation1 m-2 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideAmsterdam
City population1,387,290921,468
People per km²1,0714,208
Museums within 10 km13101
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Amsterdam 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.