VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Wilmington?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Wilmington 48: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Wilmington 40: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Wilmington 40: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Wilmington 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Wilmington 62: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Wilmington 28: Amsterdam leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Wilmington 33: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Wilmington 40: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Wilmington 33: Amsterdam leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamWilmington

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). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamWilmington
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation-2 m9 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamWilmington
City population921,468115,451
People per km²4,208839
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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