VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Brussels or Kyoto?

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 Brussels for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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. Brussels 18, Kyoto 15: Brussels leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Kyoto 35: Brussels leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Brussels and Kyoto are level on 72.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Kyoto 60: Brussels leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Brussels
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsKyoto
Official languageFrench, German, DutchJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation70 m51 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsKyoto
City population195,5461,463,723
People per km²5,9081,768
Museums within 10 km10677
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km104
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brussels or Kyoto 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.