VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Reykjavik or Rio de Janeiro?

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 Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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. Reykjavik 12, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Rio de Janeiro 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Rio de Janeiro 90: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Rio de Janeiro 50: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Rio de Janeiro 44: Reykjavik leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Rio de Janeiro 60: Rio de Janeiro leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Rio de Janeiro 30: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikRio de Janeiro

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikRio de Janeiro
Official languageIcelandicPortuguese
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation8 m31 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikRio de Janeiro
City population138,7726,211,223
People per km²5694,930
Museums within 10 km2369
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik or Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.