VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

London or Osaka?

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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Osaka for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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. London 25, Osaka 34: Osaka leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Osaka 63: London leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Osaka 80: London leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Osaka 58: Osaka leads by 1 points.
Day trips. London 90, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 7 points.
Good for families. London 82, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 6 points.
Getting around. London 85, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Osaka 80: London leads by 15 points.
Affordability. London 15, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Osaka 66: London leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Osaka.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

London
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Osaka
73match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LondonOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonOsaka
Official languageEnglishJapanese
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Yen (JPY)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112 or 999Police 110, fire 119
Elevation4 m20 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonOsaka
City population8,799,7282,751,862
People per km²5,59812,340
Museums within 10 km21644
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km46
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Osaka 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.