VacationSelector
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Petra 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 Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Petra 5, Reykjavik 12: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Petra 22, Reykjavik 42: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Petra 85, Reykjavik 25: Petra leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Petra 5, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Petra 78, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Petra 30, Reykjavik 35: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Petra 25, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Petra 25, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Petra 18, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Petra 45, Reykjavik 6: Petra leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Petra 10, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Petra 28, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 60 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Petra and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on wellness 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.

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
PetraReykjavik

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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. Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePetraReykjavik
Official languageArabicIcelandic
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC
Emergency number911112
Elevation850 m8 m
Main airportKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasurePetraReykjavik
City population-138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km223
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Petra 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.