VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

San Francisco 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 San Francisco for

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • shopping

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. San Francisco 25, Seoul 18: San Francisco leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Seoul 75: San Francisco leads by 5 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Seoul 63: San Francisco leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Francisco and Seoul.

Your match

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

San Francisco
59match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoSeoul
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
Elevation16 m38 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoSeoul
City population873,9659,668,465
People per km²1,45515,973
Museums within 10 km5181
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
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 San Francisco 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.