VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Esplanade boardwalk and its palms, Cairns
CairnsThe Esplanade boardwalk and its palms

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Cairns by Donaldytong, Public domain.

Amsterdam or Cairns?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Cairns for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Cairns’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, Cairns 62: Cairns leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Cairns 40: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Cairns 22: Amsterdam leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Cairns 42: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Cairns 95: Cairns leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Cairns 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Cairns 66: Amsterdam leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Cairns 45: Amsterdam leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Cairns 28: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Cairns 35: Cairns leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Cairns 22: Amsterdam leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Cairns 45: Cairns leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Cairns.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Cairns
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Cairns in July

24 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
30 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamCairns

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.

Cairns's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Green Island Aws.

Cairns 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Cairns: 1993-2010 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Green Island Aws (27 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamCairns
Official languageDutchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+10
Emergency number112000
Elevation-2 m7 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsCairns International Airport (CNS)6 km from centre32 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamCairns
City population921,468146,778
People per km²4,208301
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Cairns 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.