VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Kyoto?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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, Kyoto 15: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Kyoto 35: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Kyoto 68: Amsterdam leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Kyoto 72: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Kyoto 60: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamKyoto

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.

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamKyoto
Official languageDutchJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation-2 m51 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamKyoto
City population921,4681,463,723
People per km²4,2081,768
Museums within 10 km10177
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km54
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.