VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Victoria?

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

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Victoria for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: Victoria leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Victoria 50: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Victoria 42: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Victoria 30: Amsterdam leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Victoria 54: Amsterdam leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Victoria 62: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Victoria 60: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Victoria 40: Amsterdam leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Victoria 34: Victoria leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Victoria 40: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Victoria
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamVictoria

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.

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamVictoria
Official languageDutchFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m23 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamVictoria
City population921,46891,867
People per km²4,2084,711
Museums within 10 km1016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Victoria 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.