VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Salt Lake City?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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 and Salt Lake City are level on 12.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Salt Lake City 40: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Salt Lake City 42: Salt Lake City leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Salt Lake City 30: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Salt Lake City 90: Reykjavik leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Salt Lake City 34: Reykjavik leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Salt Lake City 42: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Salt Lake City 36: Salt Lake City leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Salt Lake City 40: Salt Lake City leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Salt Lake City 55: Salt Lake City leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Salt Lake City 38: Reykjavik leads by 50 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSalt Lake City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSalt Lake City
Official languageIcelandic-
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m1,288 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSalt Lake City
City population138,772199,723
People per km²569690
Museums within 10 km2312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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