VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. New Orleans 14, Seoul 18: Seoul leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans and Seoul are level on 84.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Seoul 84: New Orleans leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 25 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 25 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Seoul 63: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Seoul.

Your match

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

New Orleans
54match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness 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.

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansSeoul
Official language-Korean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Won (KRW)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number911Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation-2 m38 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansSeoul
City population383,9979,668,465
People per km²42315,973
Museums within 10 km1681
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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