VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Osaka 34, Reykjavik 12: Osaka leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Reykjavik 42: Osaka leads by 49 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Reykjavik 25: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Reykjavik 45: Osaka leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Reykjavik 35: Osaka leads by 62 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Reykjavik 55: Osaka leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Reykjavik 55: Osaka leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Reykjavik 25: Osaka leads by 55 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Reykjavik 6: Osaka leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Reykjavik 45: Osaka leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips and shopping 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.

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OsakaReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaReykjavik
Official languageJapaneseIcelandic
CurrencyYen (JPY)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation20 m8 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaReykjavik
City population2,751,862138,772
People per km²12,340569
Museums within 10 km4423
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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