VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guilin or Orange Beach?

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 Guilin for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange Beach’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. Guilin 8, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Orange Beach 40: Guilin leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Orange Beach 7: Guilin leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Guilin and Orange Beach are level on 30.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Orange Beach 60: Guilin leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Orange Beach 50: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Orange Beach 15: Guilin leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Orange Beach 25: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Orange Beach 38: Guilin leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Orange Beach 32: Orange Beach leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Orange Beach 32: Guilin leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Guilin
Best match
44match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guilin in July

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinOrange Beach
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation153 m4 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinOrange Beach
City population4,931,1378,095
People per km²-196
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guilin or Orange Beach 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.