VacationSelector
Galena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain, Aspen
AspenGalena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Aspen by Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Aspen or Kathmandu?

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 Aspen for

  • getting around
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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. Aspen 6, Kathmandu 4: Aspen leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Aspen 45, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Aspen 22, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Aspen 40, Kathmandu 36: Aspen leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aspen 95, Kathmandu 70: Aspen leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Aspen 30, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Aspen 55, Kathmandu 20: Aspen leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Aspen 72, Kathmandu 25: Aspen leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Aspen 50, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Aspen 5, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 92 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aspen 50, Kathmandu 28: Aspen leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aspen 50, Kathmandu 45: Aspen leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aspen and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Aspen
43match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Aspen in July

27 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
33 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AspenKathmandu

Where the figures come from

Aspen has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aspen: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Aspen / Woody Creek (5.2 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAspenKathmandu
Official language-Nepali
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+5:45
Emergency number911Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation2,405 m1,300 m
Main airportAspen-Pitkin County Airport (Sardy Field) (ASE)5 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAspenKathmandu
City population7,004845,767
People per km²70017,121
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aspen or Kathmandu 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.