VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seoul or Toronto?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Toronto for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Toronto 70: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Toronto 50: Seoul leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Toronto 62: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Toronto 52: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Toronto 50: Seoul leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Toronto 74: Seoul leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Toronto 65: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Toronto 66: Seoul leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Toronto 34: Seoul leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Toronto 33: Seoul leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Toronto.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Toronto
55match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulToronto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulToronto
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageFrench, English
CurrencyWon (KRW)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
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 m76 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulToronto
City population9,668,4652,794,356
People per km²15,9734,434
Museums within 10 km8132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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