VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Austin or Kyoto?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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, Kyoto 15: Austin leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Kyoto 35: Austin leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Kyoto 60: Austin leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AustinKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

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). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinKyoto
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation149 m51 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinKyoto
City population961,8551,463,723
People per km²1,2171,768
Museums within 10 km2177
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.