VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Reykjavik or Sydney?

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

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Sydney 85: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Sydney 22: Sydney leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Sydney 55: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Sydney.

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.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and shopping 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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSydney
Official languageIcelandicEnglish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTCUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number112000
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSydney
City population138,7725,450,496
People per km²569449
Museums within 10 km2338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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