VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Gold Coast for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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.

Beaches & swimming. Fukuoka 50, Gold Coast 92: Gold Coast leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Gold Coast 47: Fukuoka leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Gold Coast 15: Fukuoka leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Gold Coast 55: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Gold Coast 82: Gold Coast leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Gold Coast 52: Fukuoka leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Gold Coast 89: Gold Coast leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Gold Coast 45: Fukuoka leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Gold Coast 40: Fukuoka leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Gold Coast 35: Fukuoka leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Gold Coast 30: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Gold Coast 42: Fukuoka leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Gold Coast.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Gold Coast
52match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Gold Coast in July

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaGold Coast

Where the figures come from

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. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaGold Coast
Official languageJapaneseEnglish
CurrencyYen (JPY)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+10
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119000
Elevation8 m12 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaGold Coast
City population1,603,043607,665
People per km²4,715433
Museums within 10 km232
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka or Gold Coast 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.