VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • getting around
  • 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. Los Angeles 60, Reykjavik 12: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Reykjavik 42: Los Angeles leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Reykjavik 25: Los Angeles leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Reykjavik 45: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Reykjavik 35: Los Angeles leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Reykjavik 55: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Reykjavik 25: Los Angeles leads by 55 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Reykjavik 6: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Reykjavik 45: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and beaches with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesReykjavik
Official language-Icelandic
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m8 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesReykjavik
City population3,898,747138,772
People per km²2,994569
Museums within 10 km3923
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.