VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bangkok or Charleston?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Charleston for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Charleston’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, Charleston 72: Charleston leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Charleston 72: Bangkok leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Charleston 64: Bangkok leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Charleston 44: Bangkok leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Charleston 55: Charleston leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Charleston 62: Bangkok leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Charleston 60: Charleston leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Charleston 46: Bangkok leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Charleston 55: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Charleston 27: Bangkok leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Charleston 42: Bangkok leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Charleston 40: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Charleston
53match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokCharleston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokCharleston
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokCharleston
City population5,676,648150,227
People per km²3,619532
Museums within 10 km5919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok or Charleston 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.