VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Beijing or Paris?

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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Paris’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, Paris 9: Paris leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Paris 96: Paris leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Paris 97: Paris leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Paris 80: Paris leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Paris 52: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Paris 92: Paris leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Paris 79: Paris leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Paris 88: Paris leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Paris 98: Paris leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Paris 25: Beijing leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Paris 88: Paris leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Paris 40: Beijing leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingParis

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingParis
Official languagePutonghuaFrench
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m27 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingParis
City population21,893,0952,103,778
People per km²1,33419,960
Museums within 10 km83251
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 Paris 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.