VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Bangkok 12, Kyoto 15: Kyoto leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Kyoto 85: Bangkok leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Kyoto 35: Bangkok leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Kyoto 72: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Kyoto 50: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Kyoto 60: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Kyoto 70: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
63match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokKyoto

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. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokKyoto
Official languageThaiJapanese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yen (JPY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, fire 119
Elevation2 m51 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokKyoto
City population5,676,6481,463,723
People per km²3,6191,768
Museums within 10 km5977
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.