VacationSelector

Amsterdam or Kathmandu?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Photo: Hans, Pexels License

Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
Kathmandu

Photo: Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

Your match

Amsterdam
✓ Best match
62
match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48
match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

AmsterdamKathmandu
Beaches & swimming. Amsterdam leads by 21 points.21
Food & drink. Amsterdam leads by 3 points.3
Culture & sights. Amsterdam and Kathmandu are level on 82.
Nightlife. Amsterdam leads by 41 points.41
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu leads by 23 points.23
Day trips. Amsterdam leads by 31 points.31
Good for families. Amsterdam leads by 52 points.52
Getting around. Amsterdam leads by 61 points.61
Shopping & style. Amsterdam leads by 13 points.13
Affordability. Kathmandu leads by 75 points.75
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam leads by 50 points.50
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu leads by 3 points.3
0255075100

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

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyAmsterdamKathmandu
Daytime high23 °C29 °C
Night-time low13 °C20 °C
Rainfall in the month85 mm384 mm
Sunshine7 hours a day4 hours a day
Sea temperature17 °CNo sea
Daylight16 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Amsterdam
6
7
11
15
18
21
23
23
20
15
10
7
Kathmandu
19
22
26
29
29
29
29
29
28
27
23
20
Sea temperature, °C
Amsterdam
6
5
6
8
12
15
17
19
17
15
11
8
Kathmandu
No coastline within reach
Rainfall, mm
Amsterdam
71
63
58
42
59
71
85
84
78
81
80
84
Kathmandu
16
23
37
57
113
260
384
317
211
48
7
10
Daylight, hours per day
Amsterdam
8
10
12
14
16
17
16
15
13
11
9
8
Kathmandu
11
11
12
13
14
14
14
13
12
12
11
10
Sunshine, hours per day
Amsterdam
2
3
5
6
7
7
7
6
5
4
2
2
Kathmandu
6
6
7
7
7
5
4
4
5
7
7
7

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam's temperatures are measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, De Bilt (35.3 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Getting there

Flying fromAmsterdamKathmandu
DubaiDXB, DWC
6 h 45 m
€318-346
1 stop
AMS · 12 km
4 h 10 m
€400-446
KTM · 4 km
New DelhiDEL
8 h 10 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
1 h 40 m
€175-205
KTM · 4 km
IstanbulIST, SAW
3 h 15 m
€166-175
AMS · 12 km
6 h 55 m
€583-665
1 stop
KTM · 4 km
Kuala LumpurKUL, SZB
12 h 45 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
4 h 30 m
€444-465
1 stop
KTM · 4 km
DohaDOH
6 h 30 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
4 h 35 m
€459-552
KTM · 4 km
BangkokBKK, DMK
11 h 30 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
3 h 15 m
€389-511
KTM · 4 km
Kuwait CityKWI
5 h 45 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
4 h 55 m
no fares
KTM · 4 km
Hong KongHKG
11 h 35 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
4 h 5 m
no fares
KTM · 4 km
GuangzhouCAN
11 h 25 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
4 h 0 m
€434-523
1 stop
KTM · 4 km
RiyadhRUH
6 h 10 m
no fares
AMS · 12 km
5 h 10 m
no fares
KTM · 4 km

The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamKathmandu
Official languageDutchNepali
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:45
Emergency number112 or 911Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation-2 m1,300 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamKathmandu
City population921,468845,767
People per km²4,20817,121
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
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 Kathmandu somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.