VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Bougainvillea and the dome of Agia Napa Cathedral, Limassol
LimassolBougainvillea and the dome of Agia Napa Cathedral

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Limassol by Julian Lupyan, CC0.

Amsterdam or Limassol?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Limassol for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Limassol’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, Limassol 77: Limassol leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam and Limassol are level on 58.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Limassol 38: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Limassol 50: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Limassol 65: Limassol leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Limassol 76: Amsterdam leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Limassol 63: Amsterdam leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Limassol 38: Amsterdam leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Limassol 42: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Limassol 44: Limassol leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Limassol 32: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Limassol are level on 42.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Limassol
52match

Wins on beaches 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

Limassol in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamLimassol

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.

Limassol 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.

Limassol's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Larnaca Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Limassol: 1998-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Akrotiri (11.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamLimassol
Official languageDutchTurkish, Greek, Modern Greek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m10 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsLarnaca International Airport (LCA)58 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamLimassol
City population921,468107,970
People per km²4,2082,405
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km53
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Limassol 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. 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.