VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Sydney or Tampa?

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 Sydney for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Tampa for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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. Sydney 95, Tampa 70: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Tampa 57: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Tampa 42: Sydney leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Tampa 52: Sydney leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Tampa 55: Sydney leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Sydney 50, Tampa 54: Tampa leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Sydney 75, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Tampa 22: Sydney leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Tampa 40: Sydney leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Tampa 40: Tampa leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Tampa 47: Sydney leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Tampa 30: Sydney leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sydney and Tampa.

Your match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Tampa in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyTampa
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation6 m30 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyTampa
City population5,450,496384,959
People per km²449848
Museums within 10 km386
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months8 months

Where else could you go?

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