VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bangkok or Guilin?

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
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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, Guilin 8: Bangkok leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Guilin 45: Bangkok leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Guilin 40: Bangkok leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Guilin 30: Bangkok leads by 55 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 63 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Guilin 56: Bangkok leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Guilin 45: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Guilin 45: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Guilin 28: Bangkok leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Guilin 78: Bangkok leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Guilin 30: Bangkok leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Guilin 40: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Guilin.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Guilin
44match

Wins on 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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokGuilin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokGuilin
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 m153 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokGuilin
City population5,676,6484,931,137
People per km²3,619-
Museums within 10 km591
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Guilin 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.