VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Kyoto or Puerto Iguazu?

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

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Puerto Iguazu 28: Kyoto leads by 57 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Puerto Iguazu 9: Kyoto leads by 87 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Puerto Iguazu 14: Kyoto leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Puerto Iguazu 33: Kyoto leads by 63 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Puerto Iguazu 55: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Puerto Iguazu 54: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Puerto Iguazu 17: Kyoto leads by 55 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Puerto Iguazu 48: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Puerto Iguazu 7: Kyoto leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Puerto Iguazu 34: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoPuerto Iguazu

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). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoPuerto Iguazu
Official languageJapaneseSpanish
CurrencyYen (JPY)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119117 or 911
Elevation51 m162 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoPuerto Iguazu
City population1,463,72354,903
People per km²1,768-
Museums within 10 km770
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 Puerto Iguazu 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.