VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Fukuoka or Seattle?

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

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Seattle 66: Fukuoka leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka and Seattle are level on 50.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Seattle 55: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Seattle 55: Fukuoka leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Seattle 64: Fukuoka leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Seattle 60: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Seattle 52: Fukuoka leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Seattle 22: Fukuoka leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Seattle 40: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Seattle.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSeattle
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation8 m40 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSeattle
City population1,603,043737,015
People per km²4,7151,996
Museums within 10 km2327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Seattle 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.