VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Paphos?

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
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Paphos for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Paphos’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, Paphos 76: Paphos leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Paphos 45: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Paphos 62: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Paphos 38: Amsterdam leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Paphos 70: Paphos leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Paphos 64: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Paphos 68: Amsterdam leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Paphos 40: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Paphos 25: Amsterdam leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Paphos 52: Paphos leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Paphos 22: Amsterdam leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Paphos are level on 42.
0255075100

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

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 getting around with your weighting.

Paphos
50match

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

Paphos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamPaphos

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.

Paphos 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamPaphos
Official languageDutchTurkish, Greek, Modern Greek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m72 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre58 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamPaphos
City population921,46835,961
People per km²4,2081,987
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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