VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Biarritz or Sarasota?

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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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. Biarritz 68, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Sarasota 44: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Sarasota 28: Biarritz leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Sarasota 55: Biarritz leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Sarasota 50: Biarritz leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Sarasota 28: Biarritz leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Sarasota 40: Biarritz leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Biarritz and Sarasota are level on 30.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Sarasota 45: Biarritz leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Biarritz
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzSarasota
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m7 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzSarasota
City population26,20654,842
People per km²2,240840
Museums within 10 km83
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz or Sarasota 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.