VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice
VeniceThe Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Venice by David Vives, Pexels License.

Reykjavik or Venice?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Venice for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Venice’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, Venice 56: Venice leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Venice 60: Venice leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Venice 94: Venice leads by 69 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Venice 27: Reykjavik leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Venice 45: Reykjavik leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Venice 86: Venice leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Venice 45: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Venice 68: Venice leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Venice 57: Venice leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Venice 20: Venice leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Venice 62: Venice leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Venice 40: Reykjavik leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Venice.

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.

Venice
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights 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

Venice in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
61 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikVenice

Where the figures come from

Venice 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.

Venice's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Treviso / S. Angelo.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Venice: 1991-2020 normals, Venezia / Tessera (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikVenice
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 m2 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsVenice Marco Polo Airport (VCE)7 km from centre103 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikVenice
City population138,772250,369
People per km²569602
Museums within 10 km2352
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone4 months

Where else could you go?

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