VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Viru Gate, Tallinn
TallinnThe Viru Gate

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Tallinn by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kyoto or Tallinn?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Tallinn for

  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tallinn’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, Tallinn 28: Tallinn leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Tallinn 52: Kyoto leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Tallinn 68: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Tallinn 44: Tallinn leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Tallinn 55: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Tallinn 58: Kyoto leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Tallinn 60: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Kyoto and Tallinn are level on 72.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Tallinn 40: Kyoto leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Tallinn 47: Kyoto leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Tallinn 50: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Tallinn 50: Kyoto leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Tallinn.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Tallinn
52match

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

Tallinn in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoTallinn

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). Tallinn: 1991-2020 normals, Tallin / Harku (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoTallinn
Official languageJapaneseEstonian
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m28 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsLennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)6 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoTallinn
City population1,463,723457,572
People per km²1,7682,871
Museums within 10 km7716
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Tallinn 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.