VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Rome or Sydney?

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 Rome for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Sydney for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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. Rome 50, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Sydney 77: Rome leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Sydney 60: Rome leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Sydney 50: Rome leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Sydney 68: Rome leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Sydney 22: Rome leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Sydney 55: Sydney leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Sydney.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Rome
64match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sydney
66match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeSydney

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSydney
Official languageItalianEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number112000
Elevation21 m6 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSydney
City population2,748,1095,450,496
People per km²2,135449
Museums within 10 km17838
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km72
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome or Sydney 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.