VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Beijing?

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 Amsterdam for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Beijing for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Beijing’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. Amsterdam 25, Beijing 6: Amsterdam leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Beijing 81: Beijing leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Beijing 93: Beijing leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Beijing 58: Amsterdam leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Beijing 60: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Beijing 85: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Beijing 64: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Beijing 69: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Beijing 72: Beijing leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Beijing 68: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Beijing 55: Beijing leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Beijing.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamBeijing

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. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamBeijing
Official languageDutchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation-2 m43 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamBeijing
City population921,46821,893,095
People per km²4,2081,334
Museums within 10 km10183
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km56
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Beijing 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.