VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License.

Kyoto or Pisa?

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

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Pisa for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Pisa’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, Pisa 58: Pisa leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Pisa 55: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Pisa 68: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Pisa 40: Pisa leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Pisa 62: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Pisa 92: Kyoto leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Pisa 52: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Pisa 76: Pisa leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Pisa 38: Kyoto leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Pisa 55: Pisa leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Pisa 38: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Pisa 45: Kyoto leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Pisa.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

Pisa
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

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoPisa

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). Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoPisa
Official languageJapaneseItalian
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m4 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoPisa
City population1,463,72388,737
People per km²1,768479
Museums within 10 km7727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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