VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seoul or Tirana?

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

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Tirana 57: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Tirana 42: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Tirana 58: Seoul leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Tirana 62: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Tirana 64: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Tirana 40: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Tirana 54: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Tirana 32: Seoul leads by 53 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Tirana 32: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Tirana 27: Seoul leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Tirana.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulTirana
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageAlbanian
CurrencyWon (KRW)Lek (ALL)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation38 m110 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulTirana
City population9,668,465389,323
People per km²15,9739,314
Museums within 10 km8111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seoul or Tirana 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.