VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Busan or Valletta?

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

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Valletta for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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 and Valletta are level on 68.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Valletta 55: Busan leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Valletta 46: Busan leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Valletta 56: Busan leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Valletta 58: Busan leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Valletta 62: Busan leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Valletta 38: Busan leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Valletta 50: Busan leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Valletta 32: Busan leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Valletta.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBusanValletta
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyWon (KRW)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation30 m56 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanValletta
City population3,453,1985,197
People per km²4,4866,496
Museums within 10 km716
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Busan or Valletta 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.