VacationSelector
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Seattle by Caio, Pexels License; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seattle 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 Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Taipei for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • getting around

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. Seattle 30, Taipei 40: Taipei leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Seattle 66, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Seattle 50, Taipei 68: Taipei leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Seattle 55, Taipei 58: Taipei leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seattle 87, Taipei 78: Seattle leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Seattle 55, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Seattle 64, Taipei 72: Taipei leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Seattle 60, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Seattle 52, Taipei 70: Taipei leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Seattle 22, Taipei 66: Taipei leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seattle 70, Taipei 55: Seattle leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seattle 40, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Taipei
Best match
70match

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.

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 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
SeattleTaipei

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. Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeattleTaipei
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
Elevation40 m10 m
Main airportSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSeattleTaipei
City population737,0152,429,429
People per km²1,9968,938
Museums within 10 km2769
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Seattle 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.