VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
Savannah City Hall and its golden dome, Savannah
SavannahSavannah City Hall and its golden dome

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Savannah by Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro or Savannah?

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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Savannah for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Savannah’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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Savannah 55: Rio de Janeiro leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Savannah 58: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro and Savannah are level on 68.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Savannah 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Savannah 48: Rio de Janeiro leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Savannah 60: Savannah leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro and Savannah are level on 50.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Savannah 58: Savannah leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Savannah 42: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Savannah 35: Rio de Janeiro leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Savannah 40: Rio de Janeiro leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Savannah 40: Savannah leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Savannah.

Your match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

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

Savannah
51match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Savannah in July

34 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
144 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroSavannah

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Savannah: 1991-2020 normals, Savannah Airport (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroSavannah
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation31 m15 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsSavannah Hilton Head International Airport (SAV)12 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroSavannah
City population6,211,223147,780
People per km²4,930524
Museums within 10 km6919
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or Savannah somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.