VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • families
  • 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. Rome 50, Seoul 18: Rome leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Seoul 75: Rome leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Seoul 77: Rome leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Seoul 63: Rome leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
64match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
RomeSeoul

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSeoul
Official languageItalianKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation21 m38 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSeoul
City population2,748,1099,668,465
People per km²2,13515,973
Museums within 10 km17881
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km75
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.