VacationSelector
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Sao Paulo or Tampa?

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 Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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. Sao Paulo 42, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Sao Paulo 84, Tampa 57: Sao Paulo leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Sao Paulo 60, Tampa 42: Sao Paulo leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Sao Paulo 86, Tampa 52: Sao Paulo leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sao Paulo 48, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Sao Paulo 47, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Sao Paulo 52, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Sao Paulo 44, Tampa 22: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Sao Paulo 70, Tampa 40: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Sao Paulo 62, Tampa 40: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sao Paulo 76, Tampa 47: Sao Paulo leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sao Paulo 25, Tampa 30: Tampa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sao Paulo and Tampa.

Your match

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

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Sao PauloTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSao PauloTampa
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation760 m30 m
Main airportSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSao PauloTampa
City population11,451,999384,959
People per km²7,519848
Museums within 10 km906
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sao Paulo or Tampa 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.