VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Sydney or Toronto?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Toronto for

  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Sydney leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Toronto 70: Sydney leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Toronto 50: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Toronto 52: Sydney leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Sydney and Toronto are level on 50.
Good for families. Sydney 75, Toronto 74: Sydney leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Toronto 65: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Toronto 66: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Toronto 72: Sydney leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Toronto 33: Sydney leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

Toronto
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyToronto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyToronto
Official languageEnglishFrench, English
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation6 m76 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyToronto
City population5,450,4962,794,356
People per km²4494,434
Museums within 10 km3832
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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