VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License.

Beijing or Delhi?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Delhi for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Delhi’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, Delhi 4: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Delhi 84: Delhi leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Delhi 85: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Delhi 44: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Delhi 20: Beijing leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Delhi 68: Beijing leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Delhi 32: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Delhi 55: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Delhi 78: Delhi leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Delhi 90: Delhi leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Delhi 55: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Delhi 25: Beijing leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Delhi.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

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

Delhi
53match

Wins on prices 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.

Beijing in July

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

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingDelhi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingDelhi
Official languagePutonghuaHindi, English
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119108 or 112
Elevation43 m221 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingDelhi
City population21,893,09526,495,000
People per km²1,33418,962
Museums within 10 km8323
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km64

Where else could you go?

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