VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The entrance to the Big Lagoon, El Nido
El NidoThe entrance to the Big Lagoon

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; El Nido by nennnn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or El Nido?

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

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose El Nido for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on El Nido’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, El Nido 92: El Nido leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, El Nido 27: Amsterdam leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, El Nido 4: Amsterdam leads by 78 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, El Nido 30: Amsterdam leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, El Nido 87: El Nido leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, El Nido 8: Amsterdam leads by 79 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, El Nido 40: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, El Nido 22: Amsterdam leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, El Nido 7: Amsterdam leads by 61 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, El Nido 64: El Nido leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, El Nido 7: Amsterdam leads by 71 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, El Nido 46: El Nido leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

El Nido
36match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

El Nido in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
368 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamEl Nido

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.

El Nido has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). El Nido: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamEl Nido
Official languageDutchEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m35 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsEl Nido Airport (ENI)4 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamEl Nido
City population921,46851,367
People per km²4,20856
Museums within 10 km1010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 El Nido 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.