VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Beijing for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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. Bangkok 12, Beijing 6: Bangkok leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Beijing 81: Bangkok leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Beijing 93: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Beijing 58: Bangkok leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Beijing 60: Beijing leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Beijing 85: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Beijing 64: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Beijing 69: Beijing leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Beijing 72: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Beijing 68: Bangkok leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Beijing 68: Beijing leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Beijing 55: Bangkok leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Bangkok
63match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

Beijing
65match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokBeijing

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokBeijing
Official languageThaiPutonghua
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation2 m43 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokBeijing
City population5,676,64821,893,095
People per km²3,6191,334
Museums within 10 km5983
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km06
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.