VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
La Major cathedral from the harbour, Marseille
MarseilleLa Major cathedral from the harbour

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Marseille by Charlotte Noblet, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Marseille?

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
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Marseille for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Marseille’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, Marseille 72: Marseille leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Marseille 67: Marseille leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Marseille 63: Amsterdam leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Marseille 57: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Marseille 83: Marseille leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Marseille 86: Amsterdam leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Marseille 50: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Marseille 57: Amsterdam leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Marseille 47: Amsterdam leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Marseille 45: Marseille leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Marseille 56: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Marseille 37: Amsterdam leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Marseille
60match

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

Marseille in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamMarseille

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Marseille: 1991-2020 normals, Marseille / Marignane (20.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamMarseille
Official languageDutchFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m0 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)21 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamMarseille
City population921,468886,040
People per km²4,2083,683
Museums within 10 km10127
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Marseille 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.