VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

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. Kyoto 15, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Sao Paulo 84: Kyoto leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Sao Paulo 60: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 51 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Sao Paulo 48: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Sao Paulo 47: Kyoto leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Sao Paulo 52: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Sao Paulo 44: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Sao Paulo 70: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Sao Paulo 25: Kyoto leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoSao Paulo

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoSao Paulo
Official languageJapanesePortuguese
CurrencyYen (JPY)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation51 m760 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoSao Paulo
City population1,463,72311,451,999
People per km²1,7687,519
Museums within 10 km7790
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Sao Paulo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.