VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Santo Domingo?

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 Santo Domingo for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Santo Domingo 64: Santo Domingo leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Santo Domingo 36: Reykjavik leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Santo Domingo 40: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Santo Domingo 40: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Santo Domingo 46: Santo Domingo leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Santo Domingo 22: Reykjavik leads by 66 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Santo Domingo.

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.

Santo Domingo
Best match
49match

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

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

Santo Domingo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSanto Domingo
Official languageIcelandicSpanish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m14 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSanto Domingo
City population138,7722,201,941
People per km²5691,691
Museums within 10 km2310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Santo Domingo 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.