VacationSelector
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Monaco 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 Monaco for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Monaco 68, Sao Paulo 42: Monaco leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Monaco 57, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Monaco 55, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Monaco 48, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Monaco 70, Sao Paulo 48: Monaco leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Monaco 84, Sao Paulo 47: Monaco leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Monaco 60, Sao Paulo 52: Monaco leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Monaco 78, Sao Paulo 44: Monaco leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Monaco 52, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Monaco 3, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 59 points.
Live music & performing arts. Monaco 63, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Monaco 55, Sao Paulo 25: Monaco leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Monaco and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Monaco
58match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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.

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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
MonacoSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMonacoSao Paulo
Official languageFrenchPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCEF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation68 m760 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMonacoSao Paulo
City population38,85711,451,999
People per km²18,5037,519
Museums within 10 km1490
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Monaco 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). 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). 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. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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.