VacationSelector
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Minato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock, Yokohama
YokohamaMinato Mirai and the Cosmo Clock

Photos: Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Yokohama by Yoshio Kohara, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Sofia or Yokohama?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Yokohama for

  • families
  • beaches
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Yokohama’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, Yokohama 46: Yokohama leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Sofia 45, Yokohama 72: Yokohama leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Sofia 60, Yokohama 55: Sofia leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Sofia 50, Yokohama 44: Sofia leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sofia 80, Yokohama 66: Sofia leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Sofia 60, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Sofia 40, Yokohama 86: Yokohama leads by 46 points.
Getting around. Sofia 65, Yokohama 87: Yokohama leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Sofia 38, Yokohama 60: Yokohama leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Sofia 78, Yokohama 55: Sofia leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sofia 50, Yokohama 56: Yokohama leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sofia 45, Yokohama 60: Yokohama leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sofia and Yokohama.

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.

Yokohama
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

Yokohama in July

28 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SofiaYokohama

Where the figures come from

Yokohama's sunshine is measured 29 km from the centre, at Tokyo.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre). Yokohama: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Yokohama (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSofiaYokohama
Official languageBulgarianJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation560 m24 m
Main airportSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSofiaYokohama
City population1,213,1343,757,630
People per km²2,4668,585
Museums within 10 km4238
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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