VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Windhoek?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Amsterdam leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Windhoek 36: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Windhoek 30: Amsterdam leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Windhoek 25: Amsterdam leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Windhoek 52: Windhoek leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Windhoek 14: Amsterdam leads by 73 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Windhoek 30: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Windhoek 22: Amsterdam leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Windhoek 30: Amsterdam leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Windhoek 18: Amsterdam leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Windhoek 30: Amsterdam leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamWindhoek

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). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamWindhoek
Official languageDutchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation-2 m1,650 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamWindhoek
City population921,468486,169
People per km²4,20895
Museums within 10 km1015
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 Windhoek 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.