VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Orange Beach?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Orange Beach 40: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Orange Beach 7: Amsterdam leads by 75 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Orange Beach 30: Amsterdam leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Orange Beach 60: Orange Beach leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Orange Beach 50: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Orange Beach 15: Amsterdam leads by 71 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Orange Beach 25: Amsterdam leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Orange Beach 38: Orange Beach leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Orange Beach 32: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Orange Beach 32: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches 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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamOrange Beach

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). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamOrange Beach
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 m4 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamOrange Beach
City population921,4688,095
People per km²4,208196
Museums within 10 km1010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Orange Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.