VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
Castle Square and the Royal Castle, Warsaw
WarsawCastle Square and the Royal Castle

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Warsaw by Raymond Petrik, Pexels License.

Oslo or Warsaw?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Warsaw for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Warsaw’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, Warsaw 12: Oslo leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Warsaw 60: Warsaw leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Warsaw 70: Warsaw leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Warsaw 66: Warsaw leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Warsaw 47: Oslo leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Oslo and Warsaw are level on 52.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Warsaw 62: Oslo leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Warsaw 72: Oslo leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Warsaw 55: Warsaw leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Warsaw 64: Warsaw leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Warsaw 63: Warsaw leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Warsaw 35: Oslo leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Oslo
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Warsaw
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Warsaw in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
OsloWarsaw

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Warsaw: 1991-2020 normals, Warszawa-Okecie (7.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloWarsaw
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiPolish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation23 m118 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsWarsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)8 km from centre172 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloWarsaw
City population717,7101,862,402
People per km²-3,601
Museums within 10 km60117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo or Warsaw 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.