VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Seattle 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 Seattle for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Tromso for

  • 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. Seattle 30, Tromso 8: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Tromso 36: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Tromso 27: Seattle leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Tromso 38: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Tromso 14: Seattle leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Tromso 45: Seattle leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Seattle and Tromso are level on 60.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Tromso 15: Seattle leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Tromso 11: Seattle leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Tromso 32: Seattle leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Tromso 38: Seattle leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seattle and Tromso.

Your match

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

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

Tromso
35match

Wins on 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.

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
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
SeattleTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleTromso
Official language-Norwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation40 m20 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleTromso
City population737,01579,943
People per km²1,99632
Museums within 10 km278
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seattle 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.