VacationSelector
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Salzburg or Tromso?

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 Salzburg for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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. Salzburg 35, Tromso 8: Salzburg leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Salzburg 45, Tromso 36: Salzburg leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Salzburg 72, Tromso 27: Salzburg leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Salzburg 25, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salzburg 86, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Salzburg 80, Tromso 14: Salzburg leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Salzburg 65, Tromso 45: Salzburg leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Salzburg 72, Tromso 60: Salzburg leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Salzburg 48, Tromso 15: Salzburg leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Salzburg 32, Tromso 11: Salzburg leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salzburg 80, Tromso 32: Salzburg leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salzburg 55, Tromso 38: Salzburg leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salzburg and Tromso.

Your match

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

Salzburg
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SalzburgTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalzburgTromso
Official languageGerman, Austrian Sign LanguageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation424 m20 m
Main airportSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalzburgTromso
City population155,02179,943
People per km²2,36032
Museums within 10 km388
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Salzburg or Tromso 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.