VacationSelector
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Dubrovnik or Sarasota?

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 Dubrovnik for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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. Dubrovnik 74, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Dubrovnik 47, Sarasota 44: Dubrovnik leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Dubrovnik 72, Sarasota 45: Dubrovnik leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Dubrovnik 37, Sarasota 28: Dubrovnik leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubrovnik 70, Sarasota 55: Dubrovnik leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Dubrovnik 66, Sarasota 50: Dubrovnik leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Dubrovnik 50, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Dubrovnik 60, Sarasota 28: Dubrovnik leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Dubrovnik 25, Sarasota 40: Sarasota leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Dubrovnik 28, Sarasota 30: Sarasota leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubrovnik 25, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubrovnik 32, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubrovnik and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Dubrovnik
49match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Sarasota in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DubrovnikSarasota

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik 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.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubrovnikSarasota
Official languageCroatian-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m7 m
Main airportDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubrovnikSarasota
City population41,56254,842
People per km²-840
Museums within 10 km73
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubrovnik or Sarasota 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.