VacationSelector
Nyhavn, Copenhagen
CopenhagenNyhavn
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Copenhagen by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Copenhagen or York?

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 Copenhagen for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose York for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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. Copenhagen 40, York 14: Copenhagen leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Copenhagen 76, York 42: Copenhagen leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Copenhagen 72, York 70: Copenhagen leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Copenhagen 60, York 36: Copenhagen leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Copenhagen 45, York 62: York leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Copenhagen 72, York 80: York leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Copenhagen 85, York 60: Copenhagen leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Copenhagen 85, York 72: Copenhagen leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Copenhagen 70, York 46: Copenhagen leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Copenhagen 18, York 38: York leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Copenhagen 68, York 38: Copenhagen leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Copenhagen 55, York 34: Copenhagen leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Copenhagen and York.

Your match

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

Copenhagen
Best match
62match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

York
49match

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.

Copenhagen in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
17 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
CopenhagenYork

Where the figures come from

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Copenhagen: 1991-2020 normals, Koebenhavn / Landbohoejskolen (2.4 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCopenhagenYork
Official languageDanishEnglish
CurrencyDanish Krone (DKK)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCEFK230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation14 m25 m
Main airportCopenhagen Kastrup Airport (CPH)8 km from centre196 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureCopenhagenYork
City population667,099208,400
People per km²7,339766
Museums within 10 km7224
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Copenhagen or York 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.