VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Sharm el-Sheikh?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’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, Sharm el-Sheikh 87: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Reykjavik leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Sharm el-Sheikh 12: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 42: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Sharm el-Sheikh 82: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Reykjavik leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Sharm el-Sheikh 62: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Sharm el-Sheikh 22: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik and Sharm el-Sheikh are level on 25.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Sharm el-Sheikh 74: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 10: Reykjavik leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Sharm el-Sheikh 50: Reykjavik leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Sharm el-Sheikh.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on beaches 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

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSharm el-Sheikh

Where the figures come from

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

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSharm el-Sheikh
Official languageIcelandicArabic
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation8 m1 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSharm el-Sheikh
City population138,77273,000
People per km²569-
Museums within 10 km231
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Sharm el-Sheikh 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.