VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Lucerne?

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
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Lucerne 35: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Lucerne 58: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Lucerne 28: Amsterdam leads by 49 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Lucerne 78: Amsterdam leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Lucerne 66: Amsterdam leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam and Lucerne are level on 86.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Lucerne 46: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Lucerne 8: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Lucerne 66: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Lucerne
54match

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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamLucerne

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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamLucerne
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 m436 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamLucerne
City population921,46886,234
People per km²4,2082,963
Museums within 10 km10114
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 Lucerne 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.