VacationSelector
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sofia or Windhoek?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Windhoek for

Windhoek does not lead in any category we score.

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Sofia leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Sofia 45, Windhoek 36: Sofia leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Sofia 60, Windhoek 30: Sofia leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Sofia 50, Windhoek 25: Sofia leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sofia 80, Windhoek 52: Sofia leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Sofia 60, Windhoek 14: Sofia leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Sofia 40, Windhoek 30: Sofia leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Sofia 65, Windhoek 22: Sofia leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Sofia 38, Windhoek 30: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Sofia 78, Windhoek 62: Sofia leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sofia 50, Windhoek 18: Sofia leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sofia 45, Windhoek 30: Sofia leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sofia and Windhoek.

Your match

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

Sofia
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

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
15 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SofiaWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSofiaWindhoek
Official languageBulgarianEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation560 m1,650 m
Main airportSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSofiaWindhoek
City population1,213,134486,169
People per km²2,46695
Museums within 10 km425
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sofia or Windhoek 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.