VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Kyoto or Lisbon?

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 Kyoto for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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. Kyoto 15, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Lisbon 75: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Lisbon 78: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Lisbon 82: Kyoto leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Lisbon 62: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Lisbon 66: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Lisbon 60: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto and Lisbon are level on 60.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Lisbon 36: Kyoto leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Lisbon.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Kyoto
66match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Lisbon
65match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoLisbon

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoLisbon
Official languageJapanesePortuguese
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m100 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoLisbon
City population1,463,723545,796
People per km²1,7685,453
Museums within 10 km7780
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Lisbon somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.