VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Tampa?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Tampa 42: Tampa leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Tampa 55: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Tampa 22: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Tampa 47: Tampa leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Tampa 30: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Tampa.

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.

Tampa
Best match
49match

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikTampa
Official languageIcelandic-
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m30 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikTampa
City population138,772384,959
People per km²569848
Museums within 10 km236
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

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