VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

London or Quito?

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
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Quito for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: London leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Quito 54: London leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Quito 77: London leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Quito 40: London leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Quito 86: Quito leads by 29 points.
Day trips. London 90, Quito 55: London leads by 35 points.
Good for families. London 82, Quito 32: London leads by 50 points.
Getting around. London 85, Quito 45: London leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Quito 40: London leads by 55 points.
Affordability. London 15, Quito 78: Quito leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Quito 38: London leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Quito 44: Quito leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Quito.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on prices and 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LondonQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonQuito
Official languageEnglishSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation4 m2,850 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonQuito
City population8,799,7281,763,275
People per km²5,5984,735
Museums within 10 km21616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Quito 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.