VacationSelector
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Montreal 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 Montreal for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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. Montreal 25, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Montreal 78, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Montreal and Sao Paulo are level on 60.
Nightlife. Montreal 75, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montreal 66, Sao Paulo 48: Montreal leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Montreal 55, Sao Paulo 47: Montreal leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Montreal 68, Sao Paulo 52: Montreal leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Montreal 72, Sao Paulo 44: Montreal leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Montreal 60, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Montreal 45, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montreal and Sao Paulo are level on 76.
Wellness & relaxation. Montreal 57, Sao Paulo 25: Montreal leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montreal and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on beaches 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.

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MontrealSao Paulo

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

Before you go

MeasureMontrealSao Paulo
Official languageFrench, EnglishPortuguese
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation31 m760 m
Main airportMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 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

MeasureMontrealSao Paulo
City population1,895,21111,451,999
People per km²3,8067,519
Museums within 10 km3790
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montreal 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). 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.