VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro or Toronto?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Toronto for

  • families
  • getting around
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Rio de Janeiro leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Toronto 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Toronto 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Toronto 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro and Toronto are level on 50.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Toronto 34: Rio de Janeiro leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Toronto 33: Toronto leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Toronto.

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 beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Toronto
55match

Wins on families 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroToronto

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. Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroToronto
Official languagePortugueseFrench, English
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation31 m76 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroToronto
City population6,211,2232,794,356
People per km²4,9304,434
Museums within 10 km6932
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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