VacationSelector
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sao Paulo or Wilmington?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Sao Paulo 84, Wilmington 48: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Sao Paulo 60, Wilmington 40: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Sao Paulo 86, Wilmington 40: Sao Paulo leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sao Paulo 48, Wilmington 58: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Sao Paulo 47, Wilmington 45: Sao Paulo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Sao Paulo 52, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Sao Paulo 44, Wilmington 28: Sao Paulo leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Sao Paulo 70, Wilmington 33: Sao Paulo leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Sao Paulo 62, Wilmington 42: Sao Paulo leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sao Paulo 76, Wilmington 40: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sao Paulo 25, Wilmington 33: Wilmington leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Sao PauloWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSao PauloWilmington
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 m9 m
Main airportSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSao PauloWilmington
City population11,451,999115,451
People per km²7,519839
Museums within 10 km902
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sao Paulo or Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.