VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Interlaken?

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 Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Interlaken leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Interlaken 25: Amsterdam leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Interlaken 8: Amsterdam leads by 74 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Interlaken 15: Amsterdam leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Interlaken 78: Amsterdam leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam and Interlaken are level on 72.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Interlaken 80: Amsterdam leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Interlaken 22: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Interlaken 8: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Interlaken 15: Amsterdam leads by 63 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Interlaken 40: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Interlaken.

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.

Interlaken
41match

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamInterlaken

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.

Interlaken 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). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamInterlaken
Official languageDutchFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m571 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamInterlaken
City population921,4686,123
People per km²4,2081,424
Museums within 10 km1013
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Interlaken 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.