VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Seoul or Valletta?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Valletta 55: Seoul leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Valletta 46: Seoul leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Valletta 56: Seoul leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Valletta 76: Seoul leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Valletta 58: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Valletta 62: Seoul leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Valletta 38: Seoul leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Seoul and Valletta are level on 50.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Valletta 44: Seoul leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Valletta 32: Seoul leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Valletta.

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.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulValletta
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyWon (KRW)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation38 m56 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulValletta
City population9,668,4655,197
People per km²15,9736,496
Museums within 10 km8116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km53
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 Valletta 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.