VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Guilin or Rotorua?

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
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Rotorua 33: Guilin leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Rotorua 38: Guilin leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Rotorua 14: Guilin leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Rotorua 86: Guilin leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Rotorua 45: Guilin leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Rotorua 30: Guilin leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Rotorua 22: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Rotorua 36: Guilin leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin and Rotorua are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 46 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Rotorua.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Guilin
44match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Rotorua
43match

Wins on wellness and beaches 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

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rotorua has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGuilinRotorua
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119111
Elevation153 m280 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinRotorua
City population4,931,13758,500
People per km²-22
Museums within 10 km11
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guilin or Rotorua 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.