VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Tokyo?

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 Barcelona for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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. Barcelona 75, Tokyo 40: Barcelona leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Tokyo 84: Barcelona leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Tokyo 68: Barcelona leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Tokyo 48: Tokyo leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Barcelona
72match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaTokyo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation9 m6 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaTokyo
City population1,731,64914,264,798
People per km²17,0946,501
Museums within 10 km95192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Tokyo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.