VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Edinburgh or The Hague?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose The Hague for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: The Hague leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, The Hague 48: Edinburgh leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, The Hague 66: Edinburgh leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, The Hague 38: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, The Hague 52: Edinburgh leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, The Hague 72: The Hague leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, The Hague 78: The Hague leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, The Hague 55: The Hague leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, The Hague 35: The Hague leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, The Hague 58: Edinburgh leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, The Hague 45: The Hague leads by 11 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and The Hague.

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

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

The Hague
56match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghThe Hague

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.

The Hague 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.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghThe Hague
Official languageEnglishDutch
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
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 m1 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghThe Hague
City population488,050548,320
People per km²1,8845,589
Museums within 10 km3254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34
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 The Hague 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.