VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Oslo or Seattle?

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 Oslo for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seattle for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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. Oslo 36, Seattle 30: Oslo leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Seattle 50: Oslo leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Seattle 60: Oslo leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Seattle 22: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Seattle 40: Oslo leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oslo and Seattle.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Oslo
56match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OsloSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSeattle
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi-
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation23 m40 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSeattle
City population717,710737,015
People per km²-1,996
Museums within 10 km6027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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