VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Old Port and Le Suquet, Cannes
CannesThe Old Port and Le Suquet

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Cannes by qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Cannes?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Cannes for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Cannes’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, Cannes 80: Cannes leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Cannes 55: Amsterdam leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Cannes 38: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Cannes 42: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Cannes 72: Cannes leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Cannes 86: Amsterdam leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Cannes 56: Amsterdam leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Cannes 68: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Cannes 60: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam and Cannes are level on 22.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Cannes 38: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Cannes are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Cannes.

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.

Cannes
55match

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

Cannes in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamCannes

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). Cannes: 2004-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Cannes (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamCannes
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 destinationsNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)20 km from centre130 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamCannes
City population921,46874,350
People per km²4,2083,793
Museums within 10 km10116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone4 months

Where else could you go?

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