VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Brisbane 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 Brisbane for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • shopping

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. Brisbane 55, Sao Paulo 42: Brisbane leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Sao Paulo 48: Brisbane leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Sao Paulo 47: Brisbane leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Sao Paulo 52: Brisbane leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Sao Paulo 44: Brisbane leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 40, Sao Paulo 25: Brisbane leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brisbane and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Brisbane
54match

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

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and prices 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BrisbaneSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneSao Paulo
Official languageEnglishPortuguese
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-3
Emergency number000Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation0 m760 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneSao Paulo
City population2,706,96611,451,999
People per km²1717,519
Museums within 10 km1690
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months-

Where else could you go?

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