VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Orange 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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange 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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Orange Beach 40: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Orange Beach 7: Kathmandu leads by 75 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Orange Beach 30: Kathmandu leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Orange Beach 60: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Orange Beach 50: Kathmandu leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Orange Beach 15: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Orange Beach 25: Kathmandu leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Orange Beach 38: Kathmandu leads by 59 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Orange Beach 32: Orange Beach leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Orange Beach 32: Kathmandu leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Orange Beach.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Orange Beach
41match

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduOrange Beach
Official languageNepali-
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m4 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduOrange Beach
City population845,7678,095
People per km²17,121196
Museums within 10 km90
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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