VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Busan or Guilin?

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 Busan for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Guilin for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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. Busan 68, Guilin 8: Busan leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Guilin 45: Busan leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Guilin 40: Busan leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Guilin 30: Busan leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Guilin 56: Busan leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Guilin 45: Busan leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Guilin 45: Busan leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Guilin 28: Busan leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Guilin 30: Busan leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Guilin 40: Busan leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Guilin.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Guilin
44match

Wins on prices 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.

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
BusanGuilin

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanGuilin
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguagePutonghua
CurrencyWon (KRW)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation30 m153 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanGuilin
City population3,453,1984,931,137
People per km²4,486-
Museums within 10 km71
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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