VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Scottsdale?

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 Edinburgh for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Edinburgh 22, Scottsdale 8: Edinburgh leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Scottsdale 46: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Scottsdale 38: Edinburgh leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Scottsdale 68: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Scottsdale 50: Edinburgh leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Scottsdale 60: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Scottsdale 20: Edinburgh leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Scottsdale 32: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Scottsdale 40: Edinburgh leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

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

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghScottsdale

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghScottsdale
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation47 m380 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghScottsdale
City population488,050241,361
People per km²1,884-
Museums within 10 km3210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Scottsdale 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.