VacationSelector
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Sao Paulo or Wellington?

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
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Sao Paulo leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Sao Paulo 84, Wellington 62: Sao Paulo leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Sao Paulo 60, Wellington 44: Sao Paulo leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Sao Paulo 86, Wellington 45: Sao Paulo leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sao Paulo 48, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Sao Paulo 47, Wellington 40: Sao Paulo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Sao Paulo 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Sao Paulo 44, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Sao Paulo 70, Wellington 42: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Sao Paulo 62, Wellington 33: Sao Paulo leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sao Paulo 76, Wellington 56: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sao Paulo 25, Wellington 30: Wellington 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 Wellington.

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 prices with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Sao PauloWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSao PauloWellington
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCN60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193111
Elevation760 m0 m
Main airportSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSao PauloWellington
City population11,451,999216,200
People per km²7,519487
Museums within 10 km9012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sao Paulo or Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.