VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Beijing or Portland?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Portland 68: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Portland 38: Beijing leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Portland 52: Beijing leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Portland 84: Portland leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Portland 58: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Portland 55: Beijing leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Portland 62: Beijing leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Portland 52: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Portland 38: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Portland 55: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Portland 42: Beijing leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Portland.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingPortland
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 m152 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingPortland
City population21,893,095652,503
People per km²1,3341,736
Museums within 10 km8317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60

Where else could you go?

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