Seoul or Tokyo?

1,194 km apart, in South Korea and Japan. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• Seoul South Korea · best Apr, May, Jun
• Tokyo Japan · best Apr, Aug, Oct

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month. Fares are the typical return from Bengaluru, in INR.

Before you go

• Cost of living — Seoul: cheap, about 57% of the United States; Tokyo: moderate, about 65% of the United States.
• Currency — Seoul: Won; Tokyo: Yen.
• Plugs — Seoul: type C and F, 220 V; Tokyo: type A and B, 100 V.
• Driving — Seoul: on the right; Tokyo: on the left.
• Travel advice — Seoul: no advice against travel; Tokyo: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

1,194 km as the crow flies, about 2h 22m in the air.By road, 1,733 km and about 26h 25m.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• Seoul or Hong Kong
• Seoul or Taipei
• Tokyo or Hong Kong
• Tokyo or Taipei

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.