VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Seoul or Tel Aviv?

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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Tel Aviv 80: Seoul leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Tel Aviv 57: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Tel Aviv 82: Seoul leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Tel Aviv 52: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Tel Aviv 68: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Tel Aviv 64: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Tel Aviv 55: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Tel Aviv 14: Seoul leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Tel Aviv 35: Seoul leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Tel Aviv
62match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulTel Aviv

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulTel Aviv
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageHebrew
CurrencyWon (KRW)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119Police 100, fire 102
Elevation38 m5 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulTel Aviv
City population9,668,465467,875
People per km²15,9738,998
Museums within 10 km8198
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months7 months

Where else could you go?

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