VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

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

Seoul or Sydney?

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 Seoul for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sydney for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Seoul 18, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Sydney 77: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Sydney 60: Seoul leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Sydney 60: Seoul leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Sydney 50: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Sydney 75: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Sydney 75: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Sydney 68: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Sydney 22: Seoul leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Sydney 55: Seoul leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Sydney
66match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulSydney
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageEnglish
CurrencyWon (KRW)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119000
Elevation38 m6 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulSydney
City population9,668,4655,450,496
People per km²15,973449
Museums within 10 km8138
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seoul or Sydney 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.