VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Valparaiso?

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
  • families

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Valparaiso 60: Reykjavik leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Valparaiso 33: Reykjavik leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Valparaiso 44: Reykjavik leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Valparaiso 30: Valparaiso leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Valparaiso 38: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Valparaiso 18: Reykjavik leads by 70 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikValparaiso
Official languageIcelandicSpanish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation8 m21 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikValparaiso
City population138,772296,655
People per km²5696,180
Museums within 10 km2317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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