VacationSelector
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Sao Paulo or Tokyo?

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

  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Sao Paulo 84, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Sao Paulo 60, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Sao Paulo and Tokyo are level on 86.
Nature & outdoors. Sao Paulo 48, Tokyo 68: Tokyo leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Sao Paulo 47, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Sao Paulo 52, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Sao Paulo 44, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Sao Paulo 70, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Sao Paulo 62, Tokyo 48: Sao Paulo leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sao Paulo 76, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sao Paulo 25, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 53 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Sao PauloTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSao PauloTokyo
Official languagePortugueseJapanese
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCN60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193Police 110, fire 119
Elevation760 m6 m
Main airportSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSao PauloTokyo
City population11,451,99914,264,798
People per km²7,5196,501
Museums within 10 km90192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sao Paulo or Tokyo 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.