VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Tokyo?

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

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • food and drink
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Tokyo 68: Tokyo leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Tokyo 85: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Tokyo 48: Tokyo leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on day trips with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on food and drink and wellness 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamTokyo
Official languageDutchJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation-2 m6 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamTokyo
City population921,46814,264,798
People per km²4,2086,501
Museums within 10 km101192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
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 Tokyo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.