VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Sydney or Valletta?

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

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

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

Choose Valletta for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Sydney leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Valletta 55: Sydney leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Valletta 46: Sydney leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Valletta 56: Sydney leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Sydney 50, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Sydney 75, Valletta 58: Sydney leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Valletta 62: Sydney leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Valletta 38: Sydney leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Valletta 44: Sydney leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Valletta 32: Sydney leads by 23 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

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

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyValletta
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation6 m56 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyValletta
City population5,450,4965,197
People per km²4496,496
Museums within 10 km3816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sydney or Valletta 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.