VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Rotorua?

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

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Rotorua 33: Reykjavik leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Rotorua 38: Rotorua leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Rotorua 14: Reykjavik leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Rotorua 86: Reykjavik leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Rotorua 45: Rotorua leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Rotorua 30: Reykjavik leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Rotorua 22: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Rotorua 36: Rotorua leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Rotorua 30: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Rotorua 86: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Rotorua
43match

Wins on prices and beaches 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

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rotorua 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). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikRotorua
Official languageIcelandicEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTCUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation8 m280 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikRotorua
City population138,77258,500
People per km²56922
Museums within 10 km231
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik or Rotorua 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.