VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fukuoka or Riga?

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 Fukuoka for

  • food and drink
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Riga for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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. Fukuoka 50, Riga 40: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Riga 52: Fukuoka leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Riga 66: Riga leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Riga 52: Fukuoka leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Riga 55: Fukuoka leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Riga 60: Fukuoka leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Riga 50: Fukuoka leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Riga 68: Fukuoka leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Riga 45: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Riga 62: Riga leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Riga 65: Riga leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Riga 50: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Riga.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on food and drink and families with your weighting.

Riga
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaRiga
Official languageJapaneseLatvian
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaRiga
City population1,603,043588,911
People per km²4,715-
Museums within 10 km2312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka or Riga 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.