VacationSelector
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Montevideo 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 Montevideo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • getting around

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. Montevideo 55, Reykjavik 12: Montevideo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Montevideo 57, Reykjavik 42: Montevideo leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Montevideo 54, Reykjavik 25: Montevideo leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Montevideo 50, Reykjavik 45: Montevideo leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montevideo 34, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Montevideo 55, Reykjavik 35: Montevideo leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Montevideo and Reykjavik are level on 55.
Getting around. Montevideo 54, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Montevideo 36, Reykjavik 25: Montevideo leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Montevideo 42, Reykjavik 6: Montevideo leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montevideo 57, Reykjavik 45: Montevideo leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montevideo 38, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 50 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Montevideo
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 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
MontevideoReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontevideoReykjavik
Official language-Icelandic
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation41 m8 m
Main airportCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontevideoReykjavik
City population1,302,954138,772
People per km²1,785569
Museums within 10 km3623
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montevideo 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). 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. 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.