VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Chicago 50, Kyoto 15: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Kyoto 35: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 54 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Kyoto 68: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chicago and Kyoto are level on 72.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Kyoto 60: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 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: Chicago and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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
ChicagoKyoto

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. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoKyoto
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation179 m51 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoKyoto
City population2,746,3881,463,723
People per km²4,5291,768
Museums within 10 km4477
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago 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. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.