VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Beijing or Los Angeles?

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

  • getting around
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Los Angeles 66: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Los Angeles 60: Beijing leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Los Angeles 25: Beijing leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Los Angeles 24: Beijing leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Beijing
65match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingLos Angeles
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m106 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingLos Angeles
City population21,893,0953,898,747
People per km²1,3342,994
Museums within 10 km8339
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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