VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain, Vail
VailThe top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Vail by DReifGalaxyM31, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Vail?

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
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Vail for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vail’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, Vail 5: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Vail 35: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Vail 10: Amsterdam leads by 72 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Vail 30: Amsterdam leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Vail 92: Vail leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Vail 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Vail 55: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Vail 62: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Vail 35: Amsterdam leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Vail 5: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Vail 42: Amsterdam leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Vail 48: Vail leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

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 nightlife with your weighting.

Vail
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Vail in July

29 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
35 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamVail

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.

Vail's temperatures are measured 47 km from the centre, at Kremmling.

Vail's station stands 186 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Vail 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Vail: 2006-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kremmling (46.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamVail
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m2,445 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsEagle County Regional Airport (EGE)48 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamVail
City population921,4684,835
People per km²4,208400
Museums within 10 km1011
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 Vail 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.