VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
Cliff-top hotels above the harbour, Sorrento
SorrentoCliff-top hotels above the harbour

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Sorrento?

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 Sorrento for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’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, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Sorrento 32: Sorrento leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Sorrento 28: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Sorrento 80: Reykjavik leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Sorrento 95: Sorrento leads by 60 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Sorrento 42: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Sorrento 58: Sorrento leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Sorrento 38: Sorrento leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Sorrento 32: Sorrento leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Sorrento 20: Reykjavik leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Sorrento 48: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Sorrento.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

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

Sorrento
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips 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

Sorrento in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSorrento

Where the figures come from

Sorrento 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.

Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSorrento
Official languageIcelandicItalian
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation8 m50 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSorrento
City population138,77215,407
People per km²5691,541
Museums within 10 km236
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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