VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Beijing or Oaxaca?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Oaxaca 74: Beijing leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Oaxaca 40: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Oaxaca 65: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Oaxaca 40: Beijing leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Oaxaca 55: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Oaxaca 62: Beijing leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Oaxaca 38: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Oaxaca 50: Beijing leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingOaxaca
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m1,555 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingOaxaca
City population21,893,095258,913
People per km²1,3343,028
Museums within 10 km8310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km62

Where else could you go?

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