VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Brisbane or Los Angeles?

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 Brisbane for

  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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. Brisbane 55, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Los Angeles 25: Brisbane leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Los Angeles 24: Brisbane leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 40, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Brisbane
54match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BrisbaneLos Angeles

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneLos Angeles
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation0 m106 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneLos Angeles
City population2,706,9663,898,747
People per km²1712,994
Museums within 10 km1639
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brisbane or Los Angeles 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). 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.