VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Hamburg or Seoul?

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 Hamburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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. Hamburg 28, Seoul 18: Hamburg leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Seoul 63: Hamburg leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Seoul.

Your match

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

Hamburg
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgSeoul
Official languageGermanKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation6 m38 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgSeoul
City population1,869,4739,668,465
People per km²2,47615,973
Museums within 10 km7781
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Seoul 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.