VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The pink Don CeSar hotel seen from the beach, St. Pete Beach
St. Pete BeachThe pink Don CeSar hotel seen from the beach

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; St. Pete Beach by Jeffrey Eisen, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or St. Pete Beach?

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 St. Pete Beach for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on St. Pete Beach’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, St. Pete Beach 87: St. Pete Beach leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, St. Pete Beach 40: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, St. Pete Beach 18: Amsterdam leads by 64 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, St. Pete Beach 28: Amsterdam leads by 49 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, St. Pete Beach 57: St. Pete Beach leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, St. Pete Beach 58: Amsterdam leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam and St. Pete Beach are level on 72.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, St. Pete Beach 30: Amsterdam leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, St. Pete Beach 20: Amsterdam leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, St. Pete Beach 32: St. Pete Beach leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, St. Pete Beach 20: Amsterdam leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and St. Pete Beach are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and St. Pete Beach.

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.

St. Pete Beach
42match

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

St. Pete Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
185 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSt. Pete Beach

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.

St. Pete Beach 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.

St. Pete Beach's sunshine is measured 34 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). St. Pete Beach: 1998-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Saint Petersburg (12.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSt. Pete Beach
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m2 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsSt. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport (PIE)21 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSt. Pete Beach
City population921,4688,879
People per km²4,208173
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or St. Pete Beach 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.