VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Biarritz?

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

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Biarritz for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Biarritz’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, Biarritz 68: Biarritz leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Biarritz 62: Biarritz leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Biarritz 33: Amsterdam leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Biarritz 36: Amsterdam leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Biarritz 74: Biarritz leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Biarritz 80: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Biarritz 62: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Biarritz 58: Amsterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Biarritz 42: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Biarritz 30: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Biarritz 38: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Biarritz 64: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Biarritz.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Biarritz
54match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamBiarritz

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). Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamBiarritz
Official languageDutchFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m0 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamBiarritz
City population921,46826,206
People per km²4,2082,240
Museums within 10 km1018
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Biarritz 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.