VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Los Angeles 60, Seoul 18: Los Angeles leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles and Seoul are level on 84.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Seoul 75: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Seoul 80: Los Angeles leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 62 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Seoul 63: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
64match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and prices 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

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
Los AngelesSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSeoul
Official language-Korean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Won (KRW)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation106 m38 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSeoul
City population3,898,7479,668,465
People per km²2,99415,973
Museums within 10 km3981
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Los Angeles 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). 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.