VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guilin or Plovdiv?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Plovdiv for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Plovdiv’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, Plovdiv 7: Guilin leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Plovdiv 50: Plovdiv leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Plovdiv 66: Plovdiv leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Plovdiv 42: Plovdiv leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Plovdiv 68: Guilin leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Plovdiv 70: Plovdiv leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Plovdiv 40: Guilin leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Plovdiv 65: Plovdiv leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Plovdiv 33: Plovdiv leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Guilin and Plovdiv are level on 78.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Plovdiv 42: Plovdiv leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Plovdiv 44: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Plovdiv.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Plovdiv
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around 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 recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinPlovdiv

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv 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.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinPlovdiv
Official languagePutonghuaBulgarian
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation153 m172 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinPlovdiv
City population4,931,137333,994
People per km²-3,274
Museums within 10 km118
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 Plovdiv 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. 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.