VacationSelector
The Flame Towers from the seafront, Baku
BakuThe Flame Towers from the seafront
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Baku or Reykjavik?

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 Baku for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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. Baku 40, Reykjavik 12: Baku leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Baku 60, Reykjavik 42: Baku leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Baku 62, Reykjavik 25: Baku leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Baku 42, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Baku 30, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 62 points.
Day trips. Baku 45, Reykjavik 35: Baku leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Baku 45, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Baku 58, Reykjavik 55: Baku leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Baku 48, Reykjavik 25: Baku leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Baku 64, Reykjavik 6: Baku leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Baku 52, Reykjavik 45: Baku leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Baku 30, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Baku and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Baku
Best match
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Baku in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BakuReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBakuReykjavik
Official languageAzerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign LanguageIcelandic
CurrencyAzerbaijan Manat (AZN)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC
Emergency number102 or 112112
Elevation-28 m8 m
Main airportHeydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBakuReykjavik
City population2,300,500138,772
People per km²1,075569
Museums within 10 km5023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Baku or Reykjavik 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.