VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Charleston 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 Charleston for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Charleston 72, Kathmandu 4: Charleston leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Kathmandu 55: Charleston leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Kathmandu 36: Charleston leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Kathmandu 56: Charleston leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Kathmandu 20: Charleston leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Kathmandu 25: Charleston leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston and Kathmandu are level on 55.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Kathmandu 28: Charleston leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Kathmandu 45: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Charleston
Best match
53match

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.

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonKathmandu
Official language-Nepali
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+5:45
Emergency number911Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation6 m1,300 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonKathmandu
City population150,227845,767
People per km²53217,121
Museums within 10 km199
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston 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.