VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Adelaide or Macau?

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 Adelaide for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Macau for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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. Adelaide 68, Macau 24: Adelaide leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Macau 77: Macau leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Macau 62: Macau leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Macau 40: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Macau 5: Adelaide leads by 61 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Macau 52: Adelaide leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Macau 48: Adelaide leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Macau 60: Macau leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Macau 58: Macau leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Macau 44: Macau leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Macau 36: Adelaide leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Macau 40: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Macau.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Macau
46match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideMacau

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideMacau
Official languageEnglishPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number000999
Elevation1 m22 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideMacau
City population1,387,290682,100
People per km²1,0715,916
Museums within 10 km1328
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Macau 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.