VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro or Tel Aviv?

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

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Rio de Janeiro leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Tel Aviv 57: Rio de Janeiro leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Tel Aviv 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tel Aviv 68: Tel Aviv leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Tel Aviv 64: Tel Aviv leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tel Aviv 55: Tel Aviv leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Tel Aviv 14: Rio de Janeiro leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Tel Aviv 35: Tel Aviv leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Tel Aviv.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Rio de Janeiro
62match

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

Tel Aviv
62match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroTel Aviv

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. Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroTel Aviv
Official languagePortugueseHebrew
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCN60 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193Police 100, fire 102
Elevation31 m5 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroTel Aviv
City population6,211,223467,875
People per km²4,9308,998
Museums within 10 km6998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or Tel Aviv 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.