VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License.

Austin or Beijing?

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 Austin for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Beijing for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Beijing’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. Austin 30, Beijing 6: Austin leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Beijing 81: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Beijing 93: Beijing leads by 53 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Beijing 58: Austin leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Beijing 60: Beijing leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Beijing 85: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Beijing 64: Beijing leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Beijing 69: Beijing leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Beijing 72: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Beijing 68: Austin leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Beijing 55: Beijing leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Beijing.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AustinBeijing

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinBeijing
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation149 m43 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinBeijing
City population961,85521,893,095
People per km²1,2171,334
Museums within 10 km2183
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km06

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Beijing 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.