VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Oaxaca?

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
  • families

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Oaxaca 74: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Oaxaca 40: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Oaxaca 65: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Oaxaca 40: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Oaxaca 55: Amsterdam leads by 31 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Oaxaca 62: Amsterdam leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Oaxaca 38: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamOaxaca

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). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamOaxaca
Official languageDutchSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m1,555 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamOaxaca
City population921,468258,913
People per km²4,2083,028
Museums within 10 km10110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
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 Oaxaca 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.