VacationSelector
Praia Mole in Florianopolis, Florianopolis
FlorianopolisPraia Mole in Florianopolis
White sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach, Pensacola
PensacolaWhite sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach

Photos: Florianopolis by Papa Pic, CC0; Pensacola by Jason Meredith, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Florianopolis or Pensacola?

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 Florianopolis for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Pensacola for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Pensacola’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. Florianopolis 85, Pensacola 84: Florianopolis leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Florianopolis 58, Pensacola 45: Florianopolis leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Florianopolis 33, Pensacola 45: Pensacola leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Florianopolis 60, Pensacola 42: Florianopolis leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florianopolis 78, Pensacola 62: Florianopolis leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Florianopolis 50, Pensacola 45: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Florianopolis 60, Pensacola 62: Pensacola leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Florianopolis 28, Pensacola 18: Florianopolis leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Florianopolis 33, Pensacola 28: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Florianopolis 60, Pensacola 44: Florianopolis leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florianopolis 28, Pensacola 36: Pensacola leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florianopolis 45, Pensacola 30: Florianopolis leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florianopolis and Pensacola.

Your match

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

Florianopolis
Best match
52match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Pensacola
45match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Florianopolis in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Pensacola in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
FlorianopolisPensacola

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florianopolis: 1991-2020 normals, Florianopolis (1.7 km from centre). Pensacola: 1991-2020 normals, Pensacola / Pleasant Grove (12.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorianopolisPensacola
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation3 m31 m
Main airportHercílio Luz International Airport (FLN)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)6 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFlorianopolisPensacola
City population587,48654,312
People per km²870515
Museums within 10 km115
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Florianopolis or Pensacola 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.