VacationSelector
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Gold Coast or Philadelphia?

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 Gold Coast for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Gold Coast 92, Philadelphia 36: Gold Coast leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Gold Coast 47, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Gold Coast 15, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Gold Coast and Philadelphia are level on 55.
Nature & outdoors. Gold Coast 82, Philadelphia 52: Gold Coast leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Gold Coast 52, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Gold Coast 89, Philadelphia 68: Gold Coast leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Gold Coast 45, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Gold Coast 40, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Gold Coast 35, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gold Coast 30, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gold Coast 42, Philadelphia 26: Gold Coast leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Gold Coast
52match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

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.

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gold CoastPhiladelphia

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. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGold CoastPhiladelphia
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation12 m12 m
Main airportGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGold CoastPhiladelphia
City population607,6651,603,797
People per km²4334,339
Museums within 10 km254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gold Coast or Philadelphia 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.