VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Key West?

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 Key West for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Key West’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, Key West 60: Key West leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Key West 45: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Key West 40: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Key West 62: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Key West 62: Key West leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Key West 28: Amsterdam leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Key West 40: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Key West 62: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Key West 30: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Key West 15: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Key West 38: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Key West 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 Key West.

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.

Key West
44match

Wins on beaches 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

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamKey West

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.

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West 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). Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamKey West
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m4 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamKey West
City population921,46826,444
People per km²4,2081,407
Museums within 10 km1017
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 Key West 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.