VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The old railway depot in the snow, Steamboat Springs
Steamboat SpringsThe old railway depot in the snow

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Steamboat Springs by Jeffrey Beall, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Steamboat Springs?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Steamboat Springs for

  • families
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Steamboat Springs’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, Steamboat Springs 7: Steamboat Springs leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Steamboat Springs 30: Kathmandu leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Steamboat Springs 14: Kathmandu leads by 68 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Steamboat Springs 20: Kathmandu leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Steamboat Springs 88: Steamboat Springs leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Steamboat Springs 12: Kathmandu leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Steamboat Springs 62: Steamboat Springs leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Steamboat Springs 46: Steamboat Springs leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Steamboat Springs 22: Kathmandu leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Steamboat Springs 17: Kathmandu leads by 80 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu and Steamboat Springs are level on 28.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Steamboat Springs 70: Steamboat Springs leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Steamboat Springs.

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.

Steamboat Springs
35match

Wins on families and wellness 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

Steamboat Springs in July

28 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduSteamboat Springs

Where the figures come from

Steamboat Springs 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Steamboat Springs: 2011-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Steamboat Springs / Steamboat Ii (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduSteamboat Springs
Official languageNepali-
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m2,052 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsYampa Valley Airport (HDN)33 km from centre17 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduSteamboat Springs
City population845,76713,224
People per km²17,121503
Museums within 10 km90
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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