VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • 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. Osaka 34, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Sao Paulo 84: Osaka leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Sao Paulo 60: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Sao Paulo 48: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Sao Paulo 47: Osaka leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Sao Paulo 52: Osaka leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Sao Paulo 44: Osaka leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Sao Paulo 70: Osaka leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Sao Paulo 25: Osaka leads by 41 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
OsakaSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaSao Paulo
Official languageJapanesePortuguese
CurrencyYen (JPY)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation20 m760 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaSao Paulo
City population2,751,86211,451,999
People per km²12,3407,519
Museums within 10 km4490
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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