VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles or Taipei?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Taipei for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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, Taipei 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Taipei 68: Taipei leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Taipei 58: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Taipei 78: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Taipei 72: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 61 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Taipei 70: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Taipei 66: Taipei leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Taipei 55: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
64match

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

Taipei
Best match
70match

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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesTaipei

Where the figures come from

Taipei has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesTaipei
Official language-Taiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911110 or 112 or 119
Elevation106 m10 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesTaipei
City population3,898,7472,429,429
People per km²2,9948,938
Museums within 10 km3969
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

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