VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Beijing or Seattle?

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
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Seattle 66: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Seattle 50: Beijing leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Seattle 55: Beijing leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Seattle 55: Beijing leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Beijing and Seattle are level on 64.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Seattle 60: Beijing leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Seattle 52: Beijing leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Seattle 22: Beijing leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Seattle 40: Beijing leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingSeattle
City population21,893,095737,015
People per km²1,3341,996
Museums within 10 km8327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Seattle 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.