VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Los Angeles or Sydney?

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

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sydney for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Sydney 77: Los Angeles leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Sydney 60: Los Angeles leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Sydney 60: Los Angeles leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Sydney 50: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Sydney 75: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Sydney 68: Los Angeles leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Sydney 22: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Sydney 73: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Sydney 55: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Sydney.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Los Angeles
64match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Sydney
66match

Wins on getting around 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.

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSydney
Official language-English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number911000
Elevation106 m6 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSydney
City population3,898,7475,450,496
People per km²2,994449
Museums within 10 km3938
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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