VacationSelector
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm
StockholmStortorget in Gamla stan

Photos: Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Stockholm by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Sofia or Stockholm?

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 Sofia for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Stockholm for

  • families
  • beaches
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Stockholm’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. Sofia 5, Stockholm 40: Stockholm leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Sofia 45, Stockholm 64: Stockholm leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Sofia 60, Stockholm 77: Stockholm leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Sofia 50, Stockholm 57: Stockholm leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sofia 80, Stockholm 72: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Sofia 60, Stockholm 68: Stockholm leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Sofia 40, Stockholm 82: Stockholm leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Sofia 65, Stockholm 84: Stockholm leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Sofia 38, Stockholm 70: Stockholm leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Sofia 78, Stockholm 30: Sofia leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sofia 50, Stockholm 65: Stockholm leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sofia 45, Stockholm 56: Stockholm leads by 11 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sofia and Stockholm.

Your match

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

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Stockholm
Best match
64match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Stockholm in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
65 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
SofiaStockholm

Where the figures come from

Stockholm 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.

Stockholm's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Stockholm Observatoriet.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre). Stockholm: 2003-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Stockholm Bromma Airport (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSofiaStockholm
Official languageBulgarianSwedish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swedish Krona (SEK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation560 m22 m
Main airportSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinationsStockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN)36 km from centre174 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSofiaStockholm
City population1,213,134984,748
People per km²2,4665,260
Museums within 10 km42266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Sofia or Stockholm 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.