VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Portofino and its bay from the hillside, Portofino
PortofinoPortofino and its bay from the hillside

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Portofino by Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Portofino?

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 Portofino for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Portofino’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, Portofino 60: Portofino leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Portofino 36: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Portofino 22: Amsterdam leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Portofino 14: Amsterdam leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Portofino 77: Portofino leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Portofino 76: Amsterdam leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Portofino 33: Amsterdam leads by 39 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Portofino 50: Amsterdam leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Portofino 29: Amsterdam leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Portofino 9: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Portofino 7: Amsterdam leads by 71 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Portofino are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Portofino.

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.

Portofino
38match

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

Portofino in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamPortofino

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.

Portofino's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Genova / Sestri.

Portofino 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). Portofino: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (31 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamPortofino
Official languageDutchItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m20 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)32 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamPortofino
City population921,468355
People per km²4,208142
Museums within 10 km10114
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 Portofino 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.