VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Bordeaux?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Bordeaux for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Bordeaux’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, Bordeaux 50: Bordeaux leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Bordeaux 78: Bordeaux leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Bordeaux 68: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Bordeaux 50: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Bordeaux 58: Bordeaux leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Bordeaux 78: Amsterdam leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Bordeaux 57: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Bordeaux 76: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Bordeaux 56: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Bordeaux 42: Bordeaux leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Bordeaux 55: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Bordeaux 40: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Bordeaux
59match

Wins on beaches 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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamBordeaux

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). Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamBordeaux
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 m1 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamBordeaux
City population921,468267,991
People per km²4,2085,425
Museums within 10 km10118
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km54
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 Bordeaux 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.