VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
Palm Springs

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Guilin or Palm Springs?

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
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Palm Springs for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Springs’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, Palm Springs 7: Guilin leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Palm Springs 40: Guilin leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Palm Springs 42: Palm Springs leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Palm Springs 36: Palm Springs leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Palm Springs 78: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Palm Springs 38: Guilin leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Palm Springs 40: Guilin leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Palm Springs 22: Guilin leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Palm Springs 44: Palm Springs leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Palm Springs 32: Guilin leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Palm Springs 40: Palm Springs leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Palm Springs 80: Palm Springs leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Palm Springs.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Guilin
44match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Palm Springs
42match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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
14 hdaylight a day

Palm Springs in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinPalm Springs

Where the figures come from

Palm Springs 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. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Palm Springs: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Palm Springs (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinPalm Springs
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation153 m146 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsPalm Springs International Airport (PSP)2 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinPalm Springs
City population4,931,13744,575
People per km²-181
Museums within 10 km13
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guilin or Palm Springs 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. 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.