VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Windhoek?

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 Windhoek for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Reykjavik leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Windhoek 36: Reykjavik leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Windhoek 25: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Windhoek 52: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Windhoek 14: Reykjavik leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Windhoek 30: Reykjavik leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Windhoek 22: Reykjavik leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Windhoek 18: Reykjavik leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Windhoek 30: Reykjavik leads by 58 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Windhoek.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

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

Windhoek
29match

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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikWindhoek
Official languageIcelandicEnglish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTCUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation8 m1,650 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikWindhoek
City population138,772486,169
People per km²56995
Museums within 10 km235
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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