VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Helsinki or Tromso?

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 Helsinki for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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. Helsinki 28, Tromso 8: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Tromso 36: Helsinki leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Tromso 27: Helsinki leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Tromso 38: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Tromso 14: Helsinki leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Tromso 45: Helsinki leads by 31 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Tromso 60: Helsinki leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Tromso 15: Helsinki leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Tromso 11: Helsinki leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Tromso 32: Helsinki leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Tromso 38: Helsinki leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Tromso.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiTromso
Official languageFinnish, SwedishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation17 m20 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiTromso
City population694,39279,943
People per km²3,23932
Museums within 10 km748
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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