VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kyoto or Oaxaca?

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

  • day trips
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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, Oaxaca 5: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Oaxaca 84: Kyoto leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Oaxaca 74: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Oaxaca 40: Oaxaca leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Oaxaca 62: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Oaxaca 65: Kyoto leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Oaxaca 40: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Oaxaca 55: Kyoto leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Oaxaca 62: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Oaxaca 38: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Oaxaca 50: Kyoto leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoOaxaca

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). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoOaxaca
Official languageJapaneseSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyYen (JPY)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation51 m1,555 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoOaxaca
City population1,463,723258,913
People per km²1,7683,028
Museums within 10 km7710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Oaxaca 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.