VacationSelector
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Quito 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 Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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. Quito 5, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Quito 54, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Quito 77, Sao Paulo 60: Quito leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Quito 40, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quito 86, Sao Paulo 48: Quito leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Quito 55, Sao Paulo 47: Quito leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Quito 32, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Quito 45, Sao Paulo 44: Quito leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Quito 40, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Quito 78, Sao Paulo 62: Quito leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quito 38, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quito 44, Sao Paulo 25: Quito leads by 19 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
QuitoSao Paulo

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuitoSao Paulo
Official languageSpanish, Shuar, Northern QuichuaPortuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation2,850 m760 m
Main airportMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuitoSao Paulo
City population1,763,27511,451,999
People per km²4,7357,519
Museums within 10 km1690
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Quito 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.