Cardiff or Tampa?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on sights concentration and nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and year-round weather with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Tampa leads by 29 points.29
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 75 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 8 |
| Beaches 10 km | 8 | 10 |
| Coast distance | 2 km | 1 km |
| Water distance | 2 km | 1 km |
Places to eat. Cardiff leads by 6 points.6
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 54 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 541 | 359 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 32 | 31 |
Museums & heritage. Cardiff leads by 12 points.12
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 39 | 27 |
| Museums within 10 km | 61 | 13 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 6 | 10 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 10 | 77 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
Nightlife. Cardiff leads by 9 points.9
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48 | 39 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 536 | 324 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 395 | 227 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 74 | 70 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 35 | 26 |
Nature & day trips. Cardiff leads by 20 points.20
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 30 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 18 | 6 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 15 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 68 | 72 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 39 hectares |
Good for families. Cardiff leads by 2 points.2
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 32 | 30 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 4 | 3 |
| Park area within 2 km | 88 hectares | 39 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 5 |
Sights concentration. Cardiff leads by 24 points.24
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 45 | 21 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 51 | 13 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Cardiff leads by 11 points.11
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 43 |
| Price level global | 84.9 | 100 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Tampa leads by 21 points.21
| Cardiff | Tampa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 75 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.7 °C to 20.2 °C | 21.5 °C to 32.6 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 49 mm to 87 mm | 36 mm to 228 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 1 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Cardiff | Tampa |
|---|---|---|
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 7 h 10 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 2 h 45 m no fares TPA · 8 km |
| ZurichZRH | 1 h 45 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 9 h 55 m no fares TPA · 8 km |
| Punta CanaPUJ | 8 h 40 m no fares BHX · 146 km | 2 h 45 m no fares TPA · 8 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 5 m no fares BRS · 34 km | 8 h 55 m no fares MCO · 125 km |
| CancunCUN | 9 h 55 m no fares BHX · 146 km | 1 h 45 m no fares TPA · 8 km |
| DublinDUB | 1 h 0 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 8 h 20 m no fares MCO · 125 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 20 m no fares CWL · 15 km | 9 h 25 m no fares TPA · 8 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 7 h 15 m no fares BHX · 146 km | 15 h 20 m no fares MCO · 125 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Cardiff | Tampa |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | – |
| Currency | Pound Sterling (GBP) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | G230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 999 | 911 |
| Elevation | 41 m | 30 m |
| Main airport | Cardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre8 non-stop destinations | Tampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre99 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 8 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cardiff | Tampa |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 383,536 | 384,959 |
| People per km² | 2,734 | 848 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 6 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 55 | 47 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | 8 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cardiff or Tampa somewhere new.