Amsterdam or Vienna?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Amsterdam if you want water and open country within reach: more beaches nearby, a large share of the surrounding land protected, and somewhat more restaurants near the centre.
Choose Vienna if you want a warmer year, with summer highs of 27°C, the larger museum count, and more of the notable sights within walking distance of the centre.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Amsterdam leads by 40 points.40
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 40 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 33 | 22 |
| Coast distance | 24 km | 10,000 km |
| Water distance | 24 km | — |
Places to eat. Amsterdam leads by 6 points.6
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83 | 77 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,957 | 1,617 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 44 | 37 |
Museums & heritage. Vienna leads by 1 points.1
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80 | 81 |
| Museums within 10 km | 98 | 192 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 69 | 110 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 70 | 57 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 5 | 3 |
Nightlife. Vienna leads by 4 points.4
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 74 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 1,543 | 1,948 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 1,078 | 1,089 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 70 | 56 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 114 | 108 |
Nature & day trips. Amsterdam leads by 28 points.28
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 32 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 21 | 4 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 82 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 49 hectares | 93 hectares |
Good for families. Vienna leads by 1 points.1
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 69 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 74 | 46 |
| Park area within 2 km | 49 hectares | 93 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 4 |
Sights concentration. Vienna leads by 7 points.7
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 75 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 196 | 287 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Vienna leads by 1 points.1
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 59 |
| Price level global | 79.2 | 76.9 |
| Daily budget | €181 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Vienna leads by 4 points.4
| Amsterdam | Vienna | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 57 | 61 |
| Monthly daytime high | 6.1 °C to 23.1 °C | 3.3 °C to 26.8 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 42 mm to 85 mm | 38 mm to 80 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 1 |
Where they differ
Amsterdam is the better base for getting out of town: 33 beaches nearby against Vienna's 22, and 21% of the land protected against 4%. It also has 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Vienna's 3, plus somewhat more restaurants near the centre.
Vienna is the tighter city. More notable places sit within walking distance of the centre, it has about twice as many museums, and about twice as much park space close in. It also runs warmer, 3-27°C across the year against Amsterdam's 6-23°C.
Where they are alike
Both are museum cities first. Vienna has about twice as many museums, while Amsterdam's cluster more tightly around the centre, so either way a heritage-led trip fills several days without long journeys between sites.
They are also close on families, nightlife and cost. Amsterdam has more attractions near the centre, Vienna more park space and 4 theme parks within reach against Amsterdam's 3. Nightclub numbers are comparable, and the national daily estimates, €181 and €160, sit close together.
Which traveller are you?
Travellers with children will find Amsterdam the easier base: 33 beaches within reach, 21% of the land around it protected, and about twice as many attractions near the centre. Vienna answers with more park space close in.
Anyone planning a museum-led week on foot should take Vienna: about twice as many museums, and more notable places within walking distance of the centre, so days need little travel between sites.
For eating and late nights, Amsterdam has somewhat more restaurants near the centre and a wider range of kitchens, with most of its clubs central. Vienna has more places to drink, but about half its clubs sit further out.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget figures are national estimates for the Netherlands and Austria, covering restaurant and hotel price levels rather than either city. A capital can sit well above its own country average, by more than the gap between the two estimates, so treat €181 and €160 as country context, not as a guide to what a week in either city costs.
Amsterdam's lead on beaches is about access, not swimming: neither city has a month with sea at 21°C or more, and Amsterdam's warmest months are also its wettest, at 71-85mm, so a beach day may mean a walk rather than a swim.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, De Bilt (35.3 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).
Amsterdam is at its best from June to August, with highs of 21-23°C and the sea at its warmest, 19°C late in that run. Those are also its wettest months, at 71-85mm, and no month here drops to 40mm or less.
Vienna's warm run is stronger, reaching 27°C at the peak of summer, and its autumn is drier, 47mm in October against Amsterdam's 81mm. January is dry but cold, highs of 3°C, better for a short indoor-led break than a long stay.
Getting there
| Flying from | Amsterdam | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 5 m €93-112 AMS · 12 km | 2 h 10 m €105-189 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 3 h 15 m €166-175 AMS · 12 km | 2 h 5 m €121-285 VIE · 18 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 2 h 10 m €130-171 AMS · 12 km | 2 h 15 m €117-169 VIE · 18 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 10 m €178-300 AMS · 12 km | 1 h 55 m €112-162 VIE · 18 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 5 m €152-186 AMS · 12 km | 1 h 25 m €143-152 VIE · 18 km |
| MilanMXP, BGY, LIN | 1 h 35 m €106-155 AMS · 12 km | 1 h 25 m €49-71 VIE · 18 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 45 m €318-346 1 stop AMS · 12 km | 5 h 40 m €292-307 VIE · 18 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 7 h 35 m €512-556 1 stop AMS · 12 km | 8 h 40 m €736-786 1 stop VIE · 18 km |
| BangkokBKK, DMK | 11 h 30 m no fares AMS · 12 km | 10 h 35 m no fares VIE · 18 km |
| CancunCUN | 10 h 25 m no fares AMS · 12 km | 11 h 30 m no fares VIE · 18 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Amsterdam | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Dutch | German, Austrian Sign Language |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 911 | 112 |
| Elevation | -2 m | 151 m |
| Main airport | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinations | Vienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre204 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 16 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Amsterdam | Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 921,468 | 2,028,289 |
| People per km² | 4,208 | 4,890 |
| Museums within 10 km | 101 | 152 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 5 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 98 | 113 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | – |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Vienna somewhere new.