VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Kyoto or Philadelphia?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Philadelphia 62: Kyoto leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Philadelphia 72: Kyoto leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Philadelphia 52: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Philadelphia 80: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Kyoto and Philadelphia are level on 68.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Philadelphia 66: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Philadelphia 57: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Philadelphia 40: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Philadelphia 26: Kyoto leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

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.

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoPhiladelphia

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). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoPhiladelphia
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation51 m12 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoPhiladelphia
City population1,463,7231,603,797
People per km²1,7684,339
Museums within 10 km7754
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Philadelphia 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.