VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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. Amsterdam 25, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Sao Paulo 60: Amsterdam leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Sao Paulo 48: Sao Paulo leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Sao Paulo 47: Amsterdam leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Sao Paulo 52: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Sao Paulo 44: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Sao Paulo 76: Amsterdam leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Sao Paulo 25: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSao Paulo

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSao Paulo
Official languageDutchPortuguese
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
Elevation-2 m760 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSao Paulo
City population921,46811,451,999
People per km²4,2087,519
Museums within 10 km10190
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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.