VacationSelector
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Quito or Seattle?

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 Quito for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Seattle for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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. Quito 5, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Quito 54, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Quito 77, Seattle 50: Quito leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Quito 40, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quito 86, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Quito and Seattle are level on 55.
Good for families. Quito 32, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Quito 45, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Quito 40, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Quito 78, Seattle 22: Quito leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quito 38, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quito 44, Seattle 40: Quito leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Quito and Seattle.

Your match

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

Quito
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
QuitoSeattle

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuitoSeattle
Official languageSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua-
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,850 m40 m
Main airportMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuitoSeattle
City population1,763,275737,015
People per km²4,7351,996
Museums within 10 km1627
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Quito or Seattle 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.