VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Beijing or Seoul?

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 Seoul for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Seoul 75: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Seoul 77: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Seoul 50: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Seoul 63: Beijing leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Beijing
65match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and wellness 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingSeoul
Official languagePutonghuaKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Won (KRW)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation43 m38 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingSeoul
City population21,893,0959,668,465
People per km²1,33415,973
Museums within 10 km8381
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km65
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing or Seoul 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.