VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Riga?

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

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Riga for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Riga 52: Amsterdam leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Riga 66: Amsterdam leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Riga 52: Amsterdam leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Riga 55: Riga leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Riga 60: Amsterdam leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Riga 50: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Riga 68: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Riga 45: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Riga 62: Riga leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Riga 65: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Riga 50: Riga leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on prices and beaches 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamRiga

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). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamRiga
Official languageDutchLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m6 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamRiga
City population921,468588,911
People per km²4,208-
Museums within 10 km10112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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