VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Oslo or Sydney?

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 Oslo for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Oslo 36, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Sydney 77: Sydney leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Sydney 60: Oslo leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Sydney 50: Oslo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Sydney 75: Oslo leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Sydney 22: Sydney leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Sydney 55: Oslo leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oslo and Sydney.

Your match

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

Oslo
56match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
OsloSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSydney
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiEnglish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110000
Elevation23 m6 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSydney
City population717,7105,450,496
People per km²-449
Museums within 10 km6038
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo or Sydney 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.