VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Hamburg or Sao Paulo?

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 Hamburg for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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. Hamburg 28, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Sao Paulo 60: Hamburg leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Sao Paulo 48: Hamburg leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Sao Paulo 47: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Sao Paulo 52: Hamburg leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Sao Paulo 44: Hamburg leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Sao Paulo 76: Hamburg leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Sao Paulo 25: Hamburg leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hamburg
60match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgSao Paulo
Official languageGermanPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation6 m760 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgSao Paulo
City population1,869,47311,451,999
People per km²2,4767,519
Museums within 10 km7790
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or Sao Paulo 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.