VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Francisco 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 San Francisco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • 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. San Francisco 25, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Sao Paulo 60: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Sao Paulo 48: San Francisco leads by 32 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Sao Paulo 47: San Francisco leads by 25 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Sao Paulo 52: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Sao Paulo 44: San Francisco leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 12 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco and Sao Paulo are level on 76.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Sao Paulo 25: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

San Francisco
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoSao Paulo
Official language-Portuguese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation16 m760 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoSao Paulo
City population873,96511,451,999
People per km²1,4557,519
Museums within 10 km5190
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Francisco 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. 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.