VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Faro or Sydney?

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 Faro for

  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Sydney for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Faro 74, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Sydney 50: Faro leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Sydney 22: Faro leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 22 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Sydney.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSydney
Official languagePortugueseEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number112000
Elevation10 m6 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSydney
City population64,5605,450,496
People per km²319449
Museums within 10 km238
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro or Sydney 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.