VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Beijing or Quito?

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

  • families
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Quito 54: Beijing leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Quito 77: Beijing leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Quito 40: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Quito 86: Quito leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Quito 55: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Quito 32: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Quito 45: Beijing leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Quito 40: Beijing leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Quito 78: Quito leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Quito 38: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Quito 44: Beijing leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Quito.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingQuito
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation43 m2,850 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingQuito
City population21,893,0951,763,275
People per km²1,3344,735
Museums within 10 km8316
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 Quito 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.