VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm
StockholmStortorget in Gamla stan

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Stockholm by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Stockholm?

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

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Stockholm for

  • wellness
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Stockholm’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, Stockholm 40: Stockholm leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Stockholm 64: Stockholm leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Stockholm 77: Stockholm leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Stockholm 57: Stockholm leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Stockholm 72: Edinburgh leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Stockholm 68: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Stockholm 82: Stockholm leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Stockholm 84: Stockholm leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Stockholm 70: Stockholm leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh and Stockholm are level on 30.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Stockholm 65: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Stockholm 56: Stockholm leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Stockholm.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Stockholm
Best match
64match

Wins on wellness and families 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

Stockholm in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
65 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghStockholm

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.

Stockholm 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.

Stockholm's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Stockholm Observatoriet.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Stockholm: 2003-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Stockholm Bromma Airport (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghStockholm
Official languageEnglishSwedish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Swedish Krona (SEK)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation47 m22 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsStockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN)36 km from centre174 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghStockholm
City population488,050984,748
People per km²1,8845,260
Museums within 10 km32266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh or Stockholm 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.