VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Reykjavik or Washington DC?

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

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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 and Washington DC are level on 12.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Washington DC 57: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Washington DC 64: Reykjavik leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Washington DC 28: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Washington DC 26: Reykjavik leads by 62 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Washington DC
Best match
56match

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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikWashington DC
City population138,772689,545
People per km²5693,896
Museums within 10 km2398
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

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