VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier, Virginia Beach
Virginia BeachThe beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Virginia Beach by SchuminWeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Virginia 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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Virginia Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Virginia 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, Virginia Beach 77: Virginia Beach leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Virginia Beach 42: Kathmandu leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Virginia Beach 30: Kathmandu leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Virginia Beach 37: Virginia Beach leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Virginia Beach 56: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Virginia Beach 64: Virginia Beach leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Virginia Beach 75: Virginia Beach leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Virginia Beach 27: Virginia Beach leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Virginia Beach 32: Kathmandu leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Virginia Beach 40: Kathmandu leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Virginia Beach 38: Virginia Beach leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Virginia 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 Virginia Beach.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Virginia Beach
46match

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

Virginia Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
152 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduVirginia Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Virginia Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Virginia Beach / Gatewood Park (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduVirginia Beach
Official languageNepali-
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m7 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsNorfolk International Airport (ORF)20 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduVirginia Beach
City population845,767459,470
People per km²17,121-
Museums within 10 km92
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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