VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Lisbon 50, Reykjavik 12: Lisbon leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Reykjavik 42: Lisbon leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Reykjavik 25: Lisbon leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Reykjavik 45: Lisbon leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Reykjavik 35: Lisbon leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Reykjavik 55: Lisbon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Reykjavik 55: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Reykjavik 25: Lisbon leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Reykjavik 6: Lisbon leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Reykjavik 45: Lisbon leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 52 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and 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.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonReykjavik
Official languagePortugueseIcelandic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m8 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonReykjavik
City population545,796138,772
People per km²5,453569
Museums within 10 km8023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.