Cattle will readily use shade in warm weather, but less is known about voluntarily use of sprinklers. We investigated whether 96 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows prefer sprinklers, shade or ambient conditions after walking 2km or 0.3km in the afternoon (n=48 cows/distance). Each cow was individually tested on 3 consecutive days with a different paired choice/day: 1) shade vs. sprinklers, 2) shade vs. ambient, 3) sprinklers vs. ambient. The test order was balanced between cows. The change in both respiration rate and body surface temperature was recorded after the 10-min exposure to the chosen treatment. In addition, insect avoidance behaviours were recorded during this 10-min period. Data were analysed using REML and linear regression. Average air temperature during testing was 22°C (range:15-28°C). Sixty-two percent of the cows chose shade over sprinklers (se:5.0%, p=0.032) and 65% chose shade over ambient conditions (se:5.1%, p=0.010). No preference was found for sprinklers over ambient conditions (44% of the cows chose sprinklers, se:5.3%, p=0.358). The preference for shade over sprinklers and ambient conditions increased with air temperature (p=0.038), solar radiation (p=0.030) and wind speed (p=0.026). Walking distance did not influence the preference for any treatment (p=0.426). Body surface temperature was reduced most by sprinklers (11% decrease), compared to shade (0.3% decrease) or ambient conditions (2% increase; sed:1.53%, p<0.001). Similarly, respiration rate was reduced most by sprinklers (39% decrease) but also declined in shade and ambient conditions (15% and 14% decrease, respectively, sed:5.10%, p<0.001). Furthermore, sprinklers reduced insect avoidance behaviours, including number of tail flicks (32, 37 and 36 flicks/30s for sprinklers, shade and ambient, respectively, sed:1.23, p<0.001) and hoof stamps (4.9, 7.1 and 6.3 stamps/30s for sprinklers, shade and ambient, respectively, sed:0.47, p<0.001). In conclusion, dairy cattle preferred to use shade in summer despite sprinklers being more efficient in reducing heat load and insect avoidance behaviours.