VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Beijing or Bologna?

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 Beijing for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Bologna for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Bologna’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. Beijing 6, Bologna 30: Bologna leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Bologna 82: Bologna leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Bologna 77: Beijing leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Beijing and Bologna are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Bologna 52: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Bologna 95: Bologna leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Bologna 50: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Bologna 76: Bologna leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Bologna 55: Beijing leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Bologna 48: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Bologna 60: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Bologna 40: Beijing leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Bologna.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Bologna
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingBologna

Where the figures come from

Bologna has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingBologna
Official languagePutonghuaItalian
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m54 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingBologna
City population21,893,095387,971
People per km²1,3342,754
Museums within 10 km8368
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km63

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Bologna 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.