VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Bangkok or London?

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
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose London for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, London 84: Bangkok leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, London 94: London leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, London 88: London leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, London 57: London leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, London 90: London leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, London 82: London leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, London 85: London leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, London 95: London leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, London 15: Bangkok leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, London 98: London leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, London 40: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokLondon
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112 or 999
Elevation2 m4 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokLondon
City population5,676,6488,799,728
People per km²3,6195,598
Museums within 10 km59216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 London 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.