VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Beijing or Denver?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Denver’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, Denver 5: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Denver 54: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Denver 44: Beijing leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Denver 47: Beijing leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Denver 84: Denver leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Denver 57: Beijing leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Denver 67: Denver leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Denver 40: Beijing leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Denver 44: Beijing leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Denver 36: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Denver 66: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Denver 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 Denver.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Denver
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingDenver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingDenver
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m1,609 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingDenver
City population21,893,095715,522
People per km²1,3341,783
Museums within 10 km8326
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Denver 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.