Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Cairns by Donaldytong, Public domain.
Bergen or Cairns?
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 Bergen for
- live music and the arts
- culture and sights
- getting around
What lies behind each score is written up on Bergen’s own page.
Choose Cairns for
- beaches
- prices
- wellness
What lies behind each score is written up on Cairns’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Cairns.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, level with your weighting
Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.
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.
Bergen in July
Cairns in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Cairns's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Green Island Aws.
Cairns 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.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Cairns: 1993-2010 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Green Island Aws (27 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Bergen | Cairns |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Norwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi | English |
| Currency | Norwegian Krone (NOK) | Australian Dollar (AUD) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | I230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+10 |
| Emergency number | Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110 | 000 |
| Elevation | 5 m | 7 m |
| Main airport | Bergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinations | Cairns International Airport (CNS)6 km from centre32 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Bergen | Cairns |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 291,189 | 146,778 |
| People per km² | 3,339 | 301 |
| Museums within 10 km | 31 | 1 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Cairns somewhere new.