VacationSelector
The Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance, Keystone
KeystoneThe Outback, with the Tenmile Range in the distance
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Keystone by Rudi Riet, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Keystone 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 Keystone for

  • day trips
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Keystone’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. Keystone 5, Reykjavik 12: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Keystone 27, Reykjavik 42: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Keystone 7, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Keystone 12, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Keystone 93, Reykjavik 92: Keystone leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Keystone 55, Reykjavik 35: Keystone leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Keystone 66, Reykjavik 55: Keystone leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Keystone 50, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Keystone 22, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Keystone 12, Reykjavik 6: Keystone leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Keystone 22, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Keystone 32, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 56 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Keystone and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Keystone
34match

Wins on day trips and families 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.

Keystone in July

21 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
39 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

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
KeystoneReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Keystone's temperatures are measured 51 km from the centre, at Leadville / Stringtown.

Keystone's station stands 232 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Keystone 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. Keystone: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Leadville / Stringtown (50.8 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKeystoneReykjavik
Official language-Icelandic
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation2,796 m8 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)116 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureKeystoneReykjavik
City population1,369138,772
People per km²13569
Museums within 10 km023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Keystone 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). 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.