VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Beijing or Vienna?

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
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Vienna 68: Beijing leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Vienna 89: Beijing leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Vienna 50: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Vienna 74: Beijing leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Vienna 62: Beijing leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Vienna 44: Beijing leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Beijing
65match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Vienna
66match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingVienna
Official languagePutonghuaGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m151 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingVienna
City population21,893,0952,028,289
People per km²1,3344,890
Museums within 10 km83152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km63

Where else could you go?

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