VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Beijing or Chicago?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Chicago for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Chicago 80: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Chicago 78: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Chicago 48: Beijing leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Chicago 42: Beijing leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Chicago 70: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Chicago 33: Beijing leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Chicago 33: Beijing leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Chicago.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Chicago
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingChicago
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m179 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingChicago
City population21,893,0952,746,388
People per km²1,3344,529
Museums within 10 km8344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Chicago 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.