VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Seoul or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zurich for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Zurich 53: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Zurich 58: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Zurich 62: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Zurich 76: Seoul leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Zurich 66: Seoul leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Zurich 3: Seoul leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Zurich 58: Seoul leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Zurich.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulZurich
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyWon (KRW)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation38 m408 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulZurich
City population9,668,465440,935
People per km²15,9735,016
Museums within 10 km8163
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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