Photos: Cocoa Beach by Benoît Prieur, CC0; Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
Cocoa Beach or Gold Coast?
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 Gold Coast for
- nightlife
- getting around
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cocoa Beach and Gold Coast.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on prices with your weighting.
Wins on nightlife 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.
Cocoa Beach in July
Gold Coast in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Cocoa Beach 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.
Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cocoa Beach: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Cocoa / Patrick Air Force Base (11.2 km from centre). Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Cocoa Beach | Gold Coast |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | - | English |
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | Australian Dollar (AUD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | I230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer | UTC+10 |
| Emergency number | 911 | 000 |
| Elevation | 0 m | 12 m |
| Main airport | Orlando International Airport (MCO)68 km from centre170 non-stop destinations | Gold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cocoa Beach | Gold Coast |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 11,354 | 607,665 |
| People per km² | 290 | 433 |
| Museums within 10 km | 3 | 2 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 11 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cocoa Beach or Gold Coast somewhere new.