VacationSelector
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Tokyo or Washington DC?

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 Tokyo for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Washington DC for

Washington DC does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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. Tokyo 40, Washington DC 12: Tokyo leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Tokyo 98, Washington DC 67: Tokyo leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Tokyo and Washington DC are level on 84.
Nightlife. Tokyo 86, Washington DC 57: Tokyo leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tokyo 68, Washington DC 64: Tokyo leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Tokyo 85, Washington DC 73: Tokyo leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Tokyo 95, Washington DC 73: Tokyo leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Tokyo 98, Washington DC 72: Tokyo leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Tokyo 99, Washington DC 52: Tokyo leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Tokyo 48, Washington DC 28: Tokyo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tokyo 86, Washington DC 67: Tokyo leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tokyo 78, Washington DC 26: Tokyo leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tokyo and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
TokyoWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTokyoWashington DC
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation6 m72 m
Main airportTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureTokyoWashington DC
City population14,264,798689,545
People per km²6,5013,896
Museums within 10 km19298
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tokyo or Washington DC 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.