VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Scottsdale?

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

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Adelaide leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Scottsdale 46: Adelaide leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Scottsdale 38: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Scottsdale 50: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Scottsdale 60: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Scottsdale 20: Adelaide leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Scottsdale 32: Adelaide leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Scottsdale 40: Adelaide leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideScottsdale
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number000911
Elevation1 m380 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideScottsdale
City population1,387,290241,361
People per km²1,071-
Museums within 10 km1310
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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