Weekly note

Amsterdam or Stockholm?

1,152 km apart, in Netherlands and Sweden. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

Amsterdam is the better pick in March and August; Stockholm in April to July and September; either in October. November to February are best avoided at both.

Month by month

Month JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Amsterdam 6° 11d 8° 11d 11° 9d 14° 7d 18° 8d 21° 9d 22° 10d 22° 10d 19° 11d 15° 12d 10° 12d 8° 12d
Stockholm 1° 8d 1° 5d 6° 5d 10° 5d 16° 7d 21° 6d 22° 10d 21° 9d 17° 7d 11° 8d 5° 7d 2° 8d
Pick neitherneitherAmsterdamStockholmStockholmStockholmStockholmAmsterdamStockholmeitherneitherneither

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

1,152 km as the crow flies, about 2h 19m in the air.Nonstop, about 9 a day · 3 airlines. By train, about 19h 17m · 539 · FlixBus N150. By bus, about 18h 59m · FlixBus N1399 · IC.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.