VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Santiago de Compostela?

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
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Santiago de Compostela 70: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Santiago de Compostela 45: Amsterdam leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Santiago de Compostela 72: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Santiago de Compostela 42: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Santiago de Compostela 70: Amsterdam leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Santiago de Compostela 35: Amsterdam leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Santiago de Compostela 40: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Santiago de Compostela are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Santiago de Compostela.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices 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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSantiago de Compostela

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). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSantiago de Compostela
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m260 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSantiago de Compostela
City population921,468100,965
People per km²4,208459
Museums within 10 km1016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
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 Santiago de Compostela 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.