VacationSelector
White sand and parasols on the beach, Destin
DestinWhite sand and parasols on the beach
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Destin by #KenFL74, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Destin 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 Destin for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Guilin for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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. Destin 86, Guilin 8: Destin leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Destin 42, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Destin 14, Guilin 40: Guilin leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Destin 36, Guilin 30: Destin leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Destin 56, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Destin 44, Guilin 56: Guilin leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Destin 72, Guilin 45: Destin leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Destin 20, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Destin 40, Guilin 28: Destin leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Destin 34, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Destin 20, Guilin 30: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Destin 33, Guilin 40: Guilin leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Destin and Guilin.

Your match

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

Destin
41match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Guilin
Best match
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.

Destin in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
186 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Guilin in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
DestinGuilin

Where the figures come from

Destin has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Destin: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Destin (0.8 km from centre). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDestinGuilin
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation8 m153 m
Main airportDestin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS)11 km from centre45 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureDestinGuilin
City population13,9314,931,137
People per km²636-
Museums within 10 km11
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Destin 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.