VacationSelector
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Gold Coast or Vancouver?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Gold Coast leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Gold Coast 47, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Gold Coast 15, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Gold Coast 55, Vancouver 42: Gold Coast leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gold Coast 82, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Gold Coast 52, Vancouver 45: Gold Coast leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Gold Coast 89, Vancouver 72: Gold Coast leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Gold Coast 45, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Gold Coast 40, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Gold Coast 35, Vancouver 27: Gold Coast leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gold Coast 30, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gold Coast 42, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Gold Coast
52match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gold CoastVancouver

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). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGold CoastVancouver
Official languageEnglishFrench, English
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation12 m2 m
Main airportGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGold CoastVancouver
City population607,665662,248
People per km²4335,759
Museums within 10 km226
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Gold Coast or Vancouver 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.