VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Sydney or Valencia?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Valencia for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Sydney leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Valencia 74: Sydney leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Valencia 68: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Valencia 60: Sydney leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Sydney 50, Valencia 70: Valencia leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Sydney and Valencia are level on 75.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Valencia 76: Valencia leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Valencia 57: Sydney leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Valencia 55: Sydney leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Valencia 42: Sydney leads by 13 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Sydney
66match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Valencia
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyValencia
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation6 m15 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyValencia
City population5,450,496840,792
People per km²4496,242
Museums within 10 km3845
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sydney or Valencia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.