VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Beijing or London?

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
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose London for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, London 84: London leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, London 94: London leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, London 88: London leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, London 57: Beijing leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, London 90: London leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, London 82: London leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, London 85: London leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, London 95: London leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, London 15: Beijing leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, London 98: London leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, London 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 London.

Your match

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

Beijing
65match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingLondon
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112 or 999
Elevation43 m4 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingLondon
City population21,893,0958,799,728
People per km²1,3345,598
Museums within 10 km83216
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 London 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.