VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Bangkok or Seoul?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seoul for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Seoul leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Seoul 84: Bangkok leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Seoul 75: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Seoul 84: Bangkok leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Seoul 50: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok and Seoul are level on 75.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokSeoul
Official languageThaiKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyBaht (THB)Won (KRW)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation2 m38 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokSeoul
City population5,676,6489,668,465
People per km²3,61915,973
Museums within 10 km5981
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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