VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Osaka?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Osaka for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Osaka leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Osaka 63: Amsterdam leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Osaka 58: Osaka leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Osaka 66: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamOsaka

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). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamOsaka
Official languageDutchJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation-2 m20 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamOsaka
City population921,4682,751,862
People per km²4,20812,340
Museums within 10 km10144
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km56
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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