VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bangkok or Los Angeles?

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
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Los Angeles 84: Bangkok leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Los Angeles 66: Bangkok leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Los Angeles 67: Bangkok leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Los Angeles 60: Bangkok leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Los Angeles 25: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok and Los Angeles are level on 80.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Los Angeles 24: Bangkok leads by 61 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Los Angeles 60: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokLos Angeles
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation2 m106 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokLos Angeles
City population5,676,6483,898,747
People per km²3,6192,994
Museums within 10 km5939
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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