VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Bangkok or Sydney?

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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Bangkok 12, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Sydney 77: Bangkok leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Sydney 60: Bangkok leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Sydney 60: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 60 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Sydney 50: Bangkok leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Sydney 68: Bangkok leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Sydney 22: Bangkok leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Sydney 55: Bangkok leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Sydney.

Your match

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

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokSydney
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199000
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokSydney
City population5,676,6485,450,496
People per km²3,619449
Museums within 10 km5938
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok or Sydney 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.