VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Seoul or Tampa?

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

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Tampa 57: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Tampa 42: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Tampa 52: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Tampa 55: Seoul leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Tampa 54: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Tampa 78: Seoul leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Tampa 22: Seoul leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Tampa 40: Seoul leads by 45 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Tampa 40: Seoul leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Tampa 47: Seoul leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Tampa 30: Seoul leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Tampa.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulTampa
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign Language-
CurrencyWon (KRW)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119911
Elevation38 m30 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulTampa
City population9,668,465384,959
People per km²15,973848
Museums within 10 km816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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