VacationSelector
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sarasota or Zagreb?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Sarasota leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Sarasota 44, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Sarasota 45, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Sarasota 28, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sarasota 55, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Sarasota 50, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Sarasota 68, Zagreb 52: Sarasota leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Sarasota 28, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Sarasota and Zagreb are level on 40.
Affordability. Sarasota 30, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sarasota 58, Zagreb 52: Sarasota leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sarasota 45, Zagreb 33: Sarasota leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sarasota and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Sarasota
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on getting around and prices 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SarasotaZagreb

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.

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSarasotaZagreb
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 m127 m
Main airportSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSarasotaZagreb
City population54,842767,131
People per km²840-
Museums within 10 km327
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sarasota or Zagreb 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.