VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule, Munich
MunichThe Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Munich by 0xd1ma, Pexels License.

Beijing or Munich?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Munich for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Munich’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, Munich 28: Munich leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Munich 62: Beijing leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Munich 79: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Munich 56: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Munich 82: Munich leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Munich 86: Munich leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Munich 78: Munich leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Munich 86: Munich leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing and Munich are level on 72.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Munich 32: Beijing leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Munich 84: Munich leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Munich 62: Munich leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Munich.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Beijing
65match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Munich
67match

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
15 hdaylight a day

Munich in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingMunich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Munich: 1991-2020 normals, München (1.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingMunich
Official languagePutonghuaGerman
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m519 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsMunich Airport (MUC)29 km from centre210 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingMunich
City population21,893,0951,505,036
People per km²1,3344,844
Museums within 10 km8374
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Munich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.