VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Austin or Gold Coast?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Gold Coast for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’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. Austin 30, Gold Coast 92: Gold Coast leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Gold Coast 47: Austin leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Gold Coast 15: Austin leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Gold Coast 55: Austin leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Gold Coast 82: Gold Coast leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Gold Coast 52: Austin leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Gold Coast 89: Gold Coast leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Gold Coast 45: Gold Coast leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Gold Coast 40: Austin leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Gold Coast 35: Gold Coast leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Gold Coast 30: Austin leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Gold Coast 42: Gold Coast leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Gold Coast.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Gold Coast
52match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Gold Coast in July

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AustinGold Coast

Where the figures come from

Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinGold Coast
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+10
Emergency number911000
Elevation149 m12 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinGold Coast
City population961,855607,665
People per km²1,217433
Museums within 10 km212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Gold Coast 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.