VacationSelector
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Palermo 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 Palermo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Palermo 77, Reykjavik 12: Palermo leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Palermo 81, Reykjavik 42: Palermo leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Palermo 80, Reykjavik 25: Palermo leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Palermo 58, Reykjavik 45: Palermo leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palermo 72, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Palermo 84, Reykjavik 35: Palermo leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Palermo 44, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Palermo 50, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Palermo 44, Reykjavik 25: Palermo leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Palermo 63, Reykjavik 6: Palermo leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palermo 62, Reykjavik 45: Palermo leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palermo 30, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palermo and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and 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.

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
PalermoReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Palermo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalermoReykjavik
Official languageItalianIcelandic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m8 m
Main airportFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalermoReykjavik
City population630,167138,772
People per km²3,924569
Museums within 10 km4223
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Palermo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.