VacationSelector
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay
People's Square (Narodni trg), Zadar
ZadarPeople's Square (Narodni trg)

Photos: Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zadar by Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped.

Sarasota or Zadar?

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 Sarasota for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Zadar for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Zadar’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. Sarasota 86, Zadar 72: Sarasota leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Sarasota 44, Zadar 45: Zadar leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Sarasota 45, Zadar 55: Zadar leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Sarasota 28, Zadar 38: Zadar leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sarasota 55, Zadar 82: Zadar leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Sarasota 50, Zadar 70: Zadar leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Sarasota 68, Zadar 55: Sarasota leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Sarasota 28, Zadar 58: Zadar leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Sarasota 40, Zadar 27: Sarasota leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Sarasota 30, Zadar 52: Zadar leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sarasota 58, Zadar 28: Sarasota leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sarasota 45, Zadar 35: Sarasota leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sarasota and Zadar.

Your match

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

Sarasota
48match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Zadar
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around 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.

Sarasota in July

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

Zadar in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SarasotaZadar

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Zadar 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre). Zadar: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zadar / Zemunik (9.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSarasotaZadar
Official language-Croatian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation7 m5 m
Main airportSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsZadar Airport (ZAD)10 km from centre66 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSarasotaZadar
City population54,84270,779
People per km²840-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sarasota or Zadar 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.