VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

New York 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 New York for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • prices

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. New York 50, Sao Paulo 42: New York leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, Sao Paulo 84: New York leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, Sao Paulo 60: New York leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, Sao Paulo 86: New York leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, Sao Paulo 48: New York leads by 7 points.
Day trips. New York 68, Sao Paulo 47: New York leads by 21 points.
Good for families. New York 70, Sao Paulo 52: New York leads by 18 points.
Getting around. New York 82, Sao Paulo 44: New York leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, Sao Paulo 70: New York leads by 27 points.
Affordability. New York 12, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, Sao Paulo 76: New York leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 42, Sao Paulo 25: New York leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New York and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
New YorkSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSao Paulo
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)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
Elevation25 m760 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 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

MeasureNew YorkSao Paulo
City population8,804,19011,451,999
People per km²7,2567,519
Museums within 10 km15790
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow New York 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.