VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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. Los Angeles 60, Sao Paulo 42: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles and Sao Paulo are level on 84.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Sao Paulo 60: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Sao Paulo 48: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Sao Paulo 47: Los Angeles leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Sao Paulo 52: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Sao Paulo 70: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Sao Paulo 76: Los Angeles leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Sao Paulo 25: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSao Paulo
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation106 m760 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSao Paulo
City population3,898,74711,451,999
People per km²2,9947,519
Museums within 10 km3990
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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. 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.