VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The Tugu monument in the centre of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta
YogyakartaThe Tugu monument in the centre of Yogyakarta

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Yogyakarta by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Yogyakarta?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Yogyakarta for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Yogyakarta’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, Yogyakarta 22: Yogyakarta leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Yogyakarta 62: Yogyakarta leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Yogyakarta 68: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Yogyakarta 32: Kathmandu leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Yogyakarta 72: Yogyakarta leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Yogyakarta 78: Yogyakarta leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Yogyakarta 40: Yogyakarta leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Yogyakarta 35: Yogyakarta leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Yogyakarta 52: Kathmandu leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Yogyakarta 92: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Yogyakarta 58: Yogyakarta leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Yogyakarta 50: Yogyakarta leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Yogyakarta.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Yogyakarta
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Yogyakarta in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduYogyakarta

Where the figures come from

Yogyakarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Yogyakarta: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduYogyakarta
Official languageNepaliIndonesian
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101112
Elevation1,300 m113 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsYogyakarta International Airport (YIA)39 km from centre20 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduYogyakarta
City population845,767422,732
People per km²17,12113,007
Museums within 10 km938
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kathmandu or Yogyakarta 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.