VacationSelector
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Tromso 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 Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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. Tromso 8, Windhoek 4: Tromso leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Tromso and Windhoek are level on 36.
Culture & sights. Tromso 27, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Tromso 38, Windhoek 25: Tromso leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tromso 92, Windhoek 52: Tromso leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Tromso and Windhoek are level on 14.
Good for families. Tromso 45, Windhoek 30: Tromso leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Tromso 60, Windhoek 22: Tromso leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Tromso 15, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Tromso 11, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tromso 32, Windhoek 18: Tromso leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tromso 38, Windhoek 30: Tromso leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tromso and Windhoek.

Your match

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

Tromso
Best match
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices 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.

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

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

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
TromsoWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTromsoWindhoek
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiEnglish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation20 m1,650 m
Main airportTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureTromsoWindhoek
City population79,943486,169
People per km²3295
Museums within 10 km85
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tromso 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.