VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Osaka or Tromso?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Tromso 36: Osaka leads by 55 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Tromso 27: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Tromso 38: Osaka leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Tromso 14: Osaka leads by 83 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Tromso 45: Osaka leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Tromso 60: Osaka leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Tromso 15: Osaka leads by 65 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Tromso 11: Osaka leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Tromso 32: Osaka leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Tromso 38: Osaka leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Tromso.

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.

Tromso
35match

Wins on 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.

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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OsakaTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaTromso
Official languageJapaneseNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyYen (JPY)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation20 m20 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaTromso
City population2,751,86279,943
People per km²12,34032
Museums within 10 km448
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
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 Tromso 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.