VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or San Diego?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Diego for

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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, San Diego 72: San Diego leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, San Diego 62: San Diego leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, San Diego 50: San Diego leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, San Diego 48: San Diego leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, San Diego 77: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, San Diego 60: San Diego leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, San Diego 38: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, San Diego 44: San Diego leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, San Diego 26: San Diego leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, San Diego 56: San Diego leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, San Diego 45: Reykjavik leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and San Diego.

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.

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and families 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

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSan Diego

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSan Diego
Official languageIcelandic-
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m129 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSan Diego
City population138,7721,386,932
People per km²5691,438
Museums within 10 km2326
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik or San Diego 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.