VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

London 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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Seoul for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. London 25, Seoul 18: London leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. London and Seoul are level on 84.
Culture & sights. London 94, Seoul 75: London leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Seoul 84: London leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Day trips. London 90, Seoul 77: London leads by 13 points.
Good for families. London 82, Seoul 80: London leads by 2 points.
Getting around. London 85, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Seoul 85: London leads by 10 points.
Affordability. London 15, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Seoul 63: London leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Seoul.

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

London
71match

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

Seoul
71match

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

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
LondonSeoul

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). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonSeoul
Official languageEnglishKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Won (KRW)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112 or 999Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation4 m38 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonSeoul
City population8,799,7289,668,465
People per km²5,59815,973
Museums within 10 km21681
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km45
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London 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. 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.