VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Sao Paulo?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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. Alicante 82, Sao Paulo 42: Alicante leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Sao Paulo 48: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Sao Paulo 47: Alicante leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Sao Paulo 52: Alicante leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Sao Paulo 44: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Sao Paulo 25: Alicante leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteSao Paulo
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation3 m760 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteSao Paulo
City population366,22111,451,999
People per km²1,8197,519
Museums within 10 km890
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Sao Paulo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.