VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
Elizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth, Perth
PerthElizabeth Quay and the centre of Perth

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Perth by Samuel Wiki, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Brisbane or Perth?

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

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • prices

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

Choose Perth for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Perth’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, Perth 86: Perth leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Perth 58: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane and Perth are level on 42.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Perth 42: Brisbane leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Perth 72: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Perth 48: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Perth 74: Brisbane leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Perth 55: Brisbane leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Perth 44: Brisbane leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Perth 28: Brisbane leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Perth 50: Brisbane leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 40, Perth 38: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Perth.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Brisbane
54match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Perth
53match

Wins on beaches 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

Perth in July

19 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BrisbanePerth

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Perth: 1991-2020 normals, Perth (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbanePerth
Official languageEnglishEnglish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+8
Emergency number000000
Elevation0 m2 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsPerth International Airport (PER)10 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbanePerth
City population2,706,9662,141,834
People per km²171334
Museums within 10 km1615
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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