VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Busan or Kathmandu?

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
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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, Kathmandu 4: Busan leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Kathmandu 55: Busan leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Kathmandu 36: Busan leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Kathmandu 70: Busan leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Kathmandu 56: Busan leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Kathmandu 20: Busan leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Kathmandu 25: Busan leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Kathmandu 55: Busan leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Kathmandu 28: Busan leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Kathmandu 45: Busan leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Kathmandu.

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 families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanKathmandu
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageNepali
CurrencyWon (KRW)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+5:45
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation30 m1,300 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBusanKathmandu
City population3,453,198845,767
People per km²4,48617,121
Museums within 10 km79
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 Kathmandu 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.