VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Reykjavik or Zadar?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Zadar for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zadar’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, Zadar 72: Zadar leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Zadar 45: Zadar leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Zadar 55: Zadar leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Zadar 38: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Zadar 82: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Zadar 70: Zadar leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik and Zadar are level on 55.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Zadar 58: Zadar leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Zadar 27: Zadar leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Zadar 52: Zadar leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Zadar 28: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Zadar 35: Reykjavik leads by 53 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Zadar
Best match
51match

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

Zadar in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikZadar

Where the figures come from

Zadar 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). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikZadar
Official languageIcelandicCroatian
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation8 m5 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikZadar
City population138,77270,779
People per km²569-
Museums within 10 km231
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Zadar 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.