VacationSelector
Santa Claus Village in winter, Rovaniemi
RovaniemiSanta Claus Village in winter
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Rovaniemi by Moskenes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rovaniemi or Scottsdale?

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 Rovaniemi for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Rovaniemi 10, Scottsdale 8: Rovaniemi leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Rovaniemi 25, Scottsdale 46: Scottsdale leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Rovaniemi 22, Scottsdale 38: Scottsdale leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Rovaniemi 15, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rovaniemi 78, Scottsdale 68: Rovaniemi leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Rovaniemi 8, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Rovaniemi 72, Scottsdale 60: Rovaniemi leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Rovaniemi 36, Scottsdale 20: Rovaniemi leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Rovaniemi 18, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Rovaniemi 18, Scottsdale 32: Scottsdale leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rovaniemi 22, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rovaniemi 60, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rovaniemi
32match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Scottsdale
Best match
46match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Rovaniemi in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
22 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
RovaniemiScottsdale

Where the figures come from

Rovaniemi 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. Rovaniemi: 2008-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rovaniemi Rautatieasema / Kuusela (0.6 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRovaniemiScottsdale
Official languageFinnish, Swedish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation88 m380 m
Main airportRovaniemi Airport (RVN)8 km from centre44 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRovaniemiScottsdale
City population65,329241,361
People per km²9-
Museums within 10 km610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rovaniemi or Scottsdale 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.