VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
La Paz

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or La Paz?

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 Kathmandu for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose La Paz for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on La Paz’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. Kathmandu 4, La Paz 3: Kathmandu leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, La Paz 50: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, La Paz 52: Kathmandu leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, La Paz 38: La Paz leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, La Paz 82: La Paz leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, La Paz 40: Kathmandu leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, La Paz 10: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, La Paz 45: La Paz leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, La Paz 45: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, La Paz 92: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, La Paz 35: La Paz leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, La Paz 12: Kathmandu leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and La Paz.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

La Paz
42match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

La Paz in July

13 °Cdaytime high
-2 °Cnight-time low
16 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduLa Paz

Where the figures come from

La Paz 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. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). La Paz: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduLa Paz
Official languageNepaliSpanish, Aymara, Quechua, Guarani
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Boliviano (BOB)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAC50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m3,640 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsEl Alto International Airport (LPB)6 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduLa Paz
City population845,767755,732
People per km²17,1211,601
Museums within 10 km921
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 Kathmandu or La Paz 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.