VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier, Virginia Beach
Virginia BeachThe beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Virginia Beach by SchuminWeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Virginia Beach?

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 Virginia Beach for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Virginia Beach’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, Virginia Beach 77: Virginia Beach leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik and Virginia Beach are level on 42.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Virginia Beach 30: Virginia Beach leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Virginia Beach 37: Reykjavik leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Virginia Beach 56: Reykjavik leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Virginia Beach 64: Virginia Beach leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Virginia Beach 75: Virginia Beach leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Virginia Beach 27: Reykjavik leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Virginia Beach 32: Virginia Beach leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Virginia Beach 40: Virginia Beach leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Virginia Beach 38: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Virginia Beach 32: Reykjavik leads by 56 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Virginia Beach.

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.

Virginia Beach
46match

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

Virginia Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
152 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikVirginia Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Virginia Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Virginia Beach / Gatewood Park (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikVirginia Beach
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 m7 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsNorfolk International Airport (ORF)20 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikVirginia Beach
City population138,772459,470
People per km²569-
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Virginia Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.