VacationSelector
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Sao Paulo or York?

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
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose York for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: Sao Paulo leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Sao Paulo 84, York 42: Sao Paulo leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Sao Paulo 60, York 70: York leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Sao Paulo 86, York 36: Sao Paulo leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sao Paulo 48, York 62: York leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Sao Paulo 47, York 80: York leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Sao Paulo 52, York 60: York leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Sao Paulo 44, York 72: York leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Sao Paulo 70, York 46: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Sao Paulo 62, York 38: Sao Paulo leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sao Paulo 76, York 38: Sao Paulo leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sao Paulo 25, York 34: York leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sao Paulo and York.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on day trips 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
11 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Sao PauloYork

Where the figures come from

York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSao PauloYork
Official languagePortugueseEnglish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCN60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112 or 999
Elevation760 m25 m
Main airportSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureSao PauloYork
City population11,451,999208,400
People per km²7,519766
Museums within 10 km9024
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

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