VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Positano?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Positano for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Positano’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, Positano 77: Positano leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Positano 40: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Positano 22: Kathmandu leads by 60 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Positano 22: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Positano 80: Positano leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Positano 88: Positano leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Positano 28: Positano leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Positano 35: Positano leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Positano 45: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Positano 10: Kathmandu leads by 87 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Positano 15: Kathmandu leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu and Positano are level on 45.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Positano
42match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduPositano

Where the figures come from

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduPositano
Official languageNepaliItalian
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101112
Elevation1,300 m142 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduPositano
City population845,7673,729
People per km²17,121429
Museums within 10 km910
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kathmandu or Positano 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.