VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Lisbon or Seoul?

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 Lisbon for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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. Lisbon 50, Seoul 18: Lisbon leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Seoul 75: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon and Seoul are level on 75.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Seoul 77: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Seoul 50: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 39 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lisbon and Seoul.

Your match

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

Lisbon
65match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
LisbonSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonSeoul
Official languagePortugueseKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation100 m38 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonSeoul
City population545,7969,668,465
People per km²5,45315,973
Museums within 10 km8081
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km35
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon or Seoul somewhere new.

Browse every destination

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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.