VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cebu 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 Cebu for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

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

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. Cebu 60, Sao Paulo 42: Cebu leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Sao Paulo 48: Cebu leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Cebu 45, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Cebu 80, Sao Paulo 62: Cebu leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 51 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Sao Paulo 25: Cebu leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Cebu
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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
CebuSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuSao Paulo
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishPortuguese
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation135 m760 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureCebuSao Paulo
City population965,33211,451,999
People per km²3,0657,519
Museums within 10 km590
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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