VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Cardiff Castle, Cardiff
CardiffCardiff Castle

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Cardiff by Tevfik Teker, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Cardiff?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Cardiff for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Cardiff’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, Cardiff 30: Cardiff leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Cardiff 45: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Cardiff 58: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Cardiff 50: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Cardiff 70: Cardiff leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Cardiff 72: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Cardiff 58: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Cardiff 66: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Cardiff 50: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Cardiff 46: Cardiff leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Cardiff 57: Amsterdam leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Cardiff 27: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Cardiff
52match

Wins on prices 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

Cardiff in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamCardiff

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.

Cardiff 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.

Cardiff's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Lyneham.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamCardiff
Official languageDutchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation-2 m41 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsCardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamCardiff
City population921,468383,536
People per km²4,2082,734
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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