VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
Main Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower, Laguna Beach
Laguna BeachMain Beach with its palms and lifeguard tower

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Laguna Beach by Mark Stebnicki, Pexels License.

Kathmandu or Laguna Beach?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Laguna Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Laguna Beach’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, Laguna Beach 72: Laguna Beach leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Laguna Beach 40: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Laguna Beach 27: Kathmandu leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Laguna Beach 18: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Laguna Beach 73: Laguna Beach leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Laguna Beach 72: Laguna Beach leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Laguna Beach 68: Laguna Beach leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Laguna Beach 33: Laguna Beach leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Laguna Beach 46: Kathmandu leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Laguna Beach 12: Kathmandu leads by 85 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Laguna Beach 40: Laguna Beach leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Laguna Beach 47: Laguna Beach leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Laguna Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Laguna Beach
46match

Wins on beaches and families 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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Laguna Beach in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduLaguna Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Laguna Beach: 1981-2010 normals, Irvine (15.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduLaguna Beach
Official languageNepali-
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m6 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)18 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduLaguna Beach
City population845,76723,032
People per km²17,121907
Museums within 10 km92
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 Kathmandu or Laguna Beach 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.