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One page of sourced numbers per city: what a day costs, what the travel advisory says, and which months score best on the weather.

Data: GeoNames, Open-Meteo, World Bank, US State Department, UK FCDO.

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© 2026 Travel City Index. Every number on this site comes from a dataset named on the page that shows it.
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Japan · South Korea

Kyoto vs Seoul: cost, safety and weather compared (2026)

Every figure below comes from the same datasets for both cities, so the two columns are comparable.

Kyoto and Seoul compared on cost, safety, weather and size
KyotoJapanSeoulSouth Korea
Daily cost, per personestimate
Budget$65$65
Mid-range$150$155
Luxury$320$335
Price level0.65× US (2025)0.57× US (2025)
US advisoryLevel 1Level 1
Best monthsJun and OctJun and Sep
Annual rain1,630 mm1,469 mm
Average high20.7 °C17.4 °C
Population1.5M10.3M
Time zoneAsia/TokyoAsia/Seoul

The short answer

Kyoto and Seoul cost roughly the same per day, $150 against $155 (mid-range estimate). Both carry a US Level 1 advisory. In September, the daily average is 27 °C in Kyoto and 23 °C in Seoul.

Keep reading

City overviews

  • Kyoto overview
  • Seoul overview

Cost and safety in detail

  • Kyoto trip cost
  • Is Kyoto safe?
  • Seoul trip cost
  • Is Seoul safe?

Where they rank

  • Cheapest cities in Asia
  • Safest cities in Asia

Countries

  • All cities in Japan
  • All cities in South Korea

Sources

  • GeoNames city database — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 14, 2026
  • Open-Meteo climate archive — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 21, 2026
  • World Bank price level and exchange rate — CC BY 4.0, data year 2025
  • US State Department travel advisories — public domain, fetched September 21, 2026

Dates are the most recent fetch across the cities on this page. Every sentence here is generated from the data by rule, with no AI writing; the formulas are public.