VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Interlaken or Reykjavik?

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 Interlaken for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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. Interlaken 30, Reykjavik 12: Interlaken leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Reykjavik 42: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Reykjavik 92: Interlaken leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Reykjavik 35: Interlaken leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Reykjavik 55: Interlaken leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Reykjavik 55: Interlaken leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Reykjavik 6: Interlaken leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 48 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Interlaken
41match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenReykjavik
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshIcelandic
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation571 m8 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenReykjavik
City population6,123138,772
People per km²1,424569
Museums within 10 km323
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Interlaken or Reykjavik 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.