VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Fort Lauderdale or San Francisco?

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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Fort Lauderdale 88, San Francisco 25: Fort Lauderdale leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale and San Francisco are level on 66.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, San Francisco 14: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleSan Francisco
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m16 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleSan Francisco
City population182,760873,965
People per km²1,8291,455
Museums within 10 km651
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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