VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Queenstown?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Queenstown for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Queenstown’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, Queenstown 20: Amsterdam leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Queenstown 45: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Queenstown 12: Amsterdam leads by 70 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Queenstown 42: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Queenstown 97: Queenstown leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Queenstown 50: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Queenstown 60: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Queenstown 45: Amsterdam leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Queenstown 28: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Queenstown 20: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Queenstown 14: Amsterdam leads by 64 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Queenstown are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Queenstown.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Queenstown
40match

Wins on 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

Queenstown in July

6 °Cdaytime high
-1 °Cnight-time low
115 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
9 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamQueenstown

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.

Queenstown has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamQueenstown
Official languageDutchEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation-2 m324 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamQueenstown
City population921,46829,000
People per km²4,208-
Museums within 10 km1010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Queenstown 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.