VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Osaka or Sofia?

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

  • families
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Sofia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Osaka leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Sofia 45: Osaka leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Sofia 60: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Osaka 80, Sofia 50: Osaka leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Sofia 60: Osaka leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Sofia 40: Osaka leads by 48 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Sofia 65: Osaka leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Sofia 38: Osaka leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka 66, Sofia 50: Osaka leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Sofia 45: Osaka leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Sofia.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on families and food and drink with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OsakaSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsakaSofia
Official languageJapaneseBulgarian
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation20 m560 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsakaSofia
City population2,751,8621,213,134
People per km²12,3402,466
Museums within 10 km4442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
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 Sofia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under 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.