VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fukuoka or Sofia?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Sofia for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Fukuoka leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Sofia 45: Fukuoka leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Sofia 50: Fukuoka leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Sofia 60: Fukuoka leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Sofia 40: Fukuoka leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Sofia 65: Fukuoka leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Sofia 38: Fukuoka leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Sofia 45: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Sofia.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSofia
Official languageJapaneseBulgarian
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation8 m560 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSofia
City population1,603,0431,213,134
People per km²4,7152,466
Museums within 10 km2342
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka or Sofia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.