VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Sedona?

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 Sedona for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Sedona leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Sedona 33: Reykjavik leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Sedona 20: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Sedona 8: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Sedona 55: Sedona leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Sedona 42: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Sedona 22: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Sedona 34: Sedona leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Sedona 18: Sedona leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Sedona 13: Reykjavik leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Sedona 82: Reykjavik leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Sedona.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Sedona
36match

Wins on day trips and prices 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

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSedona

Where the figures come from

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSedona
Official languageIcelandic-
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m1,319 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSedona
City population138,7729,684
People per km²569195
Museums within 10 km230
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 Sedona 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.