VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The red aerial tram nearing the top of Hidden Peak, Snowbird
SnowbirdThe red aerial tram nearing the top of Hidden Peak

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Snowbird by VeggieGarden, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Snowbird?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Snowbird for

  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Snowbird’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, Snowbird 5: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Snowbird 20: Reykjavik leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Snowbird 5: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Snowbird 9: Reykjavik leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik and Snowbird are level on 92.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Snowbird 47: Snowbird leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Snowbird 42: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Snowbird 40: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Snowbird 8: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Snowbird 15: Snowbird leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Snowbird 8: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Snowbird 40: Reykjavik leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Snowbird.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Snowbird
28match

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

Snowbird in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSnowbird

Where the figures come from

Snowbird 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). Snowbird: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSnowbird
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 m2,479 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)36 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSnowbird
City population138,772-
People per km²569-
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 Snowbird 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.