VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Osaka for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • prices

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. Los Angeles 60, Osaka 34: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Osaka 63: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Osaka 58: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles and Osaka are level on 80.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Osaka 60: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Osaka 66: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Osaka.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 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
Los AngelesOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesOsaka
Official language-Japanese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation106 m20 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesOsaka
City population3,898,7472,751,862
People per km²2,99412,340
Museums within 10 km3944
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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