VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Valparaiso?

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
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Valparaiso 50: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Valparaiso 62: Kathmandu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Valparaiso 60: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Valparaiso 33: Valparaiso leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Valparaiso 44: Valparaiso leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Valparaiso 30: Kathmandu leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Valparaiso 60: Kathmandu leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Valparaiso 18: Kathmandu leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Valparaiso.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduValparaiso
Official languageNepaliSpanish
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1,300 m21 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduValparaiso
City population845,767296,655
People per km²17,1216,180
Museums within 10 km917
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Valparaiso 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.