VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Guilin or Varanasi?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Guilin leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Varanasi 10: Guilin leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Varanasi 18: Guilin leads by 70 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Varanasi 42: Guilin leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Varanasi 5: Guilin leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Varanasi 28: Guilin leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Varanasi 30: Guilin leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Guilin
Best match
44match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Varanasi 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). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureGuilinVaranasi
Official languagePutonghuaHindi, English
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119108 or 112
Elevation153 m76 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinVaranasi
City population4,931,1371,198,491
People per km²-14,598
Museums within 10 km12
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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