VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Rome?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Rome 82: Rome leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Rome 99: Rome leads by 74 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Rome 58: Rome leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Rome 58: Reykjavik leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Rome 92: Rome leads by 57 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Rome 50: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Rome 60: Rome leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Rome 72: Rome leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Rome 38: Rome leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Rome 68: Rome leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Rome 40: Reykjavik leads by 48 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikRome
Official languageIcelandicItalian
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation8 m21 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikRome
City population138,7722,748,109
People per km²5692,135
Museums within 10 km23178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik or Rome 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.