VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Amsterdam or Valencia?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Valencia for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Valencia 74: Valencia leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Valencia 68: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Valencia 66: Amsterdam leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Valencia 70: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Valencia 76: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Valencia 57: Amsterdam leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Valencia 55: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam and Valencia are level on 42.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Valencia
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamValencia

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). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamValencia
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 m15 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamValencia
City population921,468840,792
People per km²4,2086,242
Museums within 10 km10145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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