VacationSelector
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Paphos 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 Paphos for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Paphos 76, Reykjavik 12: Paphos leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Paphos 45, Reykjavik 42: Paphos leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Paphos 62, Reykjavik 25: Paphos leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Paphos 38, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paphos 70, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Paphos 64, Reykjavik 35: Paphos leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Paphos 68, Reykjavik 55: Paphos leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Paphos 40, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Paphos and Reykjavik are level on 25.
Affordability. Paphos 52, Reykjavik 6: Paphos leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paphos 22, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paphos 42, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Paphos and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Paphos
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Paphos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
PaphosReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Paphos 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePaphosReykjavik
Official languageTurkish, Greek, Modern GreekIcelandic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation72 m8 m
Main airportPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre58 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePaphosReykjavik
City population35,961138,772
People per km²1,987569
Museums within 10 km423
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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