VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
El Castillo above the beach at Tulum, Tulum
TulumEl Castillo above the beach at Tulum

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Tulum by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Tulum?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tulum for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Tulum’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, Tulum 88: Tulum leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Tulum 52: Tulum leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Tulum 30: Tulum leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Tulum 76: Reykjavik leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Tulum 68: Tulum leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Tulum 60: Tulum leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Tulum 25: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Tulum 35: Tulum leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Tulum 30: Tulum leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Tulum 15: Reykjavik leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Tulum 85: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Tulum.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tulum
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Tulum in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikTulum

Where the figures come from

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

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikTulum
Official languageIcelandicSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m5 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsFelipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport Tulum (TQO)21 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikTulum
City population138,77233,374
People per km²569-
Museums within 10 km230
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 Tulum 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.