VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Seoul or Vancouver?

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

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Vancouver 72: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Vancouver 42: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Vancouver 42: Seoul leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Vancouver 45: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Vancouver 72: Seoul leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Vancouver 73: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Vancouver 55: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Vancouver 27: Seoul leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Vancouver 52: Seoul leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Vancouver 50: Seoul leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulVancouver
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageFrench, English
CurrencyWon (KRW)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119911
Elevation38 m2 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulVancouver
City population9,668,465662,248
People per km²15,9735,759
Museums within 10 km8126
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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