VacationSelector
The Flame Towers from the seafront, Baku
BakuThe Flame Towers from the seafront
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Baku 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 Baku for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Baku 40, Kathmandu 4: Baku leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Baku 60, Kathmandu 55: Baku leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Baku 62, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Baku 42, Kathmandu 36: Baku leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Baku 30, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Baku 45, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Baku 45, Kathmandu 20: Baku leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Baku 58, Kathmandu 25: Baku leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Baku 48, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Baku 64, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Baku 52, Kathmandu 28: Baku leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Baku 30, Kathmandu 45: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Baku
48match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Baku in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BakuKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBakuKathmandu
Official languageAzerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign LanguageNepali
CurrencyAzerbaijan Manat (AZN)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+5:45
Emergency number102 or 112Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation-28 m1,300 m
Main airportHeydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBakuKathmandu
City population2,300,500845,767
People per km²1,07517,121
Museums within 10 km509
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Baku 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.