VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Kyoto or Vienna?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Vienna 68: Kyoto leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Vienna 89: Kyoto leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Vienna 62: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Vienna 74: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Vienna 62: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Vienna 44: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Vienna 58: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Vienna.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Kyoto
66match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Vienna
66match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoVienna

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). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoVienna
Official languageJapaneseGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m151 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoVienna
City population1,463,7232,028,289
People per km²1,7684,890
Museums within 10 km77152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
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 Vienna 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.