VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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. Beijing 6, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Sao Paulo 60: Beijing leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Sao Paulo 48: Beijing leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Sao Paulo 47: Beijing leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Sao Paulo 52: Beijing leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Sao Paulo 44: Beijing leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Sao Paulo 70: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Sao Paulo 62: Beijing leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Sao Paulo 25: Beijing leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on beaches 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingSao Paulo
Official languagePutonghuaPortuguese
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation43 m760 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingSao Paulo
City population21,893,09511,451,999
People per km²1,3347,519
Museums within 10 km8390
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.