VacationSelector
Clearwater Beach in evening light, with its hotels and pier, Clearwater
ClearwaterClearwater Beach in evening light, with its hotels and pier
Cliff-top hotels above the harbour, Sorrento
SorrentoCliff-top hotels above the harbour

Photos: Clearwater by ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Clearwater or Sorrento?

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 Clearwater for

  • families
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sorrento for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’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. Clearwater 90, Sorrento 60: Clearwater leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Clearwater 38, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Clearwater 18, Sorrento 32: Sorrento leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Clearwater 34, Sorrento 28: Clearwater leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Clearwater 55, Sorrento 80: Sorrento leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Clearwater 58, Sorrento 95: Sorrento leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Clearwater 78, Sorrento 42: Clearwater leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Clearwater 28, Sorrento 58: Sorrento leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Clearwater 27, Sorrento 38: Sorrento leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Clearwater 35, Sorrento 32: Clearwater leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Clearwater 36, Sorrento 20: Clearwater leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Clearwater 40, Sorrento 48: Sorrento leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Clearwater and Sorrento.

Your match

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

Clearwater
45match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Sorrento
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Clearwater in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Sorrento in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ClearwaterSorrento

Where the figures come from

Clearwater has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Clearwater's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Sorrento has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Clearwater: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Saint Petersburg / High Point (12.7 km from centre). Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureClearwaterSorrento
Official language-Italian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation9 m50 m
Main airportSt. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport (PIE)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureClearwaterSorrento
City population117,29215,407
People per km²1,1541,541
Museums within 10 km46
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Clearwater or Sorrento 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.