VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fukuoka 50, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Sydney 77: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka and Sydney are level on 60.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Sydney 50: Fukuoka leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Sydney 75: Fukuoka leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Sydney 75: Fukuoka leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Sydney 22: Fukuoka leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Sydney 55: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Sydney.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Fukuoka
65match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Sydney
66match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSydney
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, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119000
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSydney
City population1,603,0435,450,496
People per km²4,715449
Museums within 10 km2338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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). 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.