VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Philadelphia or Sarasota?

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 Philadelphia for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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. Philadelphia 36, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, Sarasota 44: Philadelphia leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Sarasota 45: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Sarasota 28: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Sarasota 55: Sarasota leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Sarasota 50: Philadelphia leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia and Sarasota are level on 68.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Sarasota 28: Philadelphia leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Sarasota 40: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Sarasota 30: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Sarasota 58: Philadelphia leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaSarasota
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation12 m7 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaSarasota
City population1,603,79754,842
People per km²4,339840
Museums within 10 km543
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Philadelphia or Sarasota 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.