VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Jakarta or Kyoto?

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 Jakarta for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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. Jakarta 28, Kyoto 15: Jakarta leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Kyoto 35: Jakarta leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Jakarta 45, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Jakarta 50, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Jakarta 80, Kyoto 50: Jakarta leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta 42, Kyoto 60: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Jakarta
51match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JakartaKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJakartaKyoto
Official languageIndonesianJapanese
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation91 m51 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaKyoto
City population11,135,1911,463,723
People per km²16,8211,768
Museums within 10 km4477
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jakarta or Kyoto 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.