VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santiago de Compostela 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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’s own page.

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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. Santiago de Compostela 32, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Sao Paulo 60: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Sao Paulo 48: Santiago de Compostela leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Sao Paulo 47: Santiago de Compostela leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Sao Paulo 44: Santiago de Compostela leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Sao Paulo 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela 40, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Sao Paulo 25: Santiago de Compostela leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °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
Santiago de CompostelaSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaSao Paulo
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation260 m760 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 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

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaSao Paulo
City population100,96511,451,999
People per km²4597,519
Museums within 10 km690
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela 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). 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.