VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Taipei?

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

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

Choose Taipei for

  • getting around
  • families
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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, Taipei 40: Taipei leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Taipei 68: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Taipei 58: Taipei leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Taipei 78: Taipei leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Taipei 72: Taipei leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 61 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Taipei 70: Taipei leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Taipei 66: Kathmandu leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Taipei 55: Taipei leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Taipei
Best match
70match

Wins on getting around 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

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 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
KathmanduTaipei

Where the figures come from

Taipei 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). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduTaipei
Official languageNepaliTaiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101110 or 112 or 119
Elevation1,300 m10 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduTaipei
City population845,7672,429,429
People per km²17,1218,938
Museums within 10 km969
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 Taipei 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.