VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib

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

Amsterdam or Galway?

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
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Galway for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Galway’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, Galway 28: Galway leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Galway 45: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Galway 33: Amsterdam leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Galway 50: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Galway 78: Galway leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Galway 56: Amsterdam leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Galway 42: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Galway 58: Amsterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Galway 38: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Galway 28: Galway leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Galway 57: Amsterdam leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Galway 28: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Galway.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Galway
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamGalway

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.

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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). Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamGalway
Official languageDutchEnglish, Irish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m25 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamGalway
City population921,46883,456
People per km²4,2081,563
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Galway 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.