VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The Tugu monument in the centre of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta
YogyakartaThe Tugu monument in the centre of Yogyakarta

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Yogyakarta by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Seoul or Yogyakarta?

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
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Yogyakarta for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Yogyakarta’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, Yogyakarta 22: Yogyakarta leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Yogyakarta 62: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Yogyakarta 68: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Yogyakarta 32: Seoul leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Yogyakarta 72: Seoul leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Yogyakarta 78: Yogyakarta leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Yogyakarta 40: Seoul leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Yogyakarta 35: Seoul leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Yogyakarta 52: Seoul leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Yogyakarta 92: Yogyakarta leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Yogyakarta 58: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Yogyakarta 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 Yogyakarta.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Yogyakarta
55match

Wins on prices and beaches 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

Yogyakarta in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulYogyakarta

Where the figures come from

Yogyakarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Yogyakarta: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSeoulYogyakarta
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageIndonesian
CurrencyWon (KRW)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation38 m113 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsYogyakarta International Airport (YIA)39 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulYogyakarta
City population9,668,465422,732
People per km²15,97313,007
Museums within 10 km8138
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km53
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seoul or Yogyakarta 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.