VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Amsterdam or New Orleans?

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
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: Amsterdam leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, New Orleans 67: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, New Orleans 42: Amsterdam leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, New Orleans 52: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, New Orleans 55: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, New Orleans 55: Amsterdam leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, New Orleans 54: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, New Orleans 40: New Orleans leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, New Orleans 25: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

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 getting around with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on food and drink 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamNew Orleans

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). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamNew Orleans
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m-2 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamNew Orleans
City population921,468383,997
People per km²4,208423
Museums within 10 km10116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone7 months

Where else could you go?

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