VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Vieux Nice and the Baie des Anges, Nice
NiceVieux Nice and the Baie des Anges

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Nice by Daniel Stockman, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Nice?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nice for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Nice’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, Nice 75: Nice leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Nice 66: Nice leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Nice 64: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Nice 47: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Nice 80: Nice leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam and Nice are level on 87.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Nice 57: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Nice 74: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Nice 55: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Nice 35: Nice leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Nice 45: Amsterdam leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Nice 40: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Nice.

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 live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Nice
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

Nice in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamNice

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). Nice: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamNice
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 destinationsNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)6 km from centre130 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamNice
City population921,468357,737
People per km²4,2084,975
Museums within 10 km10117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Nice 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.