174 World cities by latitude: Things line up in surprising ways
- By Roger Wade
- 13 Apr, 2016
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While this site mostly deals with the economics of world travel, we've also included typical weather and climate information for each destination for each month of the year. Hopefully this is useful to those who are planning a trip so they can compare what to expect weather-wise between each destination with just one click.
So building on the weather part, I always thought it would be interesting to see exactly where all the major tourist destinations of the world line up with regard to latitude (distance from the equator). The data below might contain some surprising facts, as it seems like most of us picture the globe in ways that may not match reality.
Updated: Now with 174 cities
As this site has grown to over 200 destinations, in 2016 we added 67 additional cities to this list. Now you'll find almost every popular “cultural” destination in the world, sorted by latitude, and you can click on the link to get more weather and pricing information. When you see which cities share the same distance from the equator, it's often very surprising, especially considering how different the weather can be between them.
Southern Hemisphere cities are in italics alongside the Northern Hemisphere cities
And since it seems more interesting to compare cities by absolute distance from the equator rather than purely from north to south, I've added the Southern Hemisphere cities in with their northern counterparts, so, for example, Melbourne, Australia is listed (in italics) with San Francisco, as they are the same distance from the equator.
174 popular destinations by latitude
Southern Hemisphere cities are in on the same list, in italics.
64°
60°
Helsinki, Finland
Bergen, Norway
59°
Oslo, Norway
Stockholm, Sweden
Tallinn, Estonia
St. Petersburg, Russia
57°
55°
Edinburgh, Scotland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Moscow, Russia
Vilnius, Lithuania
53°
Galway, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
Hamburg, Germany
52°
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Berlin, Germany
Warsaw, Poland
51°
London, England
Bruges, Belgium
50°
Brussells, Belgium
Prague, Czech Republic
Krakow, Poland
49°
Vancouver, Canada
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
48°
Paris, France
Munich, Germany
Vienna, Austria
Salzburg, Austria
Bratislava, Slovakia
47°
Zurich, Switzerland
Budapest, Hungary
Interlaken, Switzerland
Lucerne, Switzerland
46°
45°
Montreal, Canada
Milan, Italy
Venice, Italy
Belgrade, Serbia
Zagreb, Croatia
Queenstown, New Zealand
44°
Bucharest, Romania
Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina
Monaco, Monaco
Christchurch, New Zealand
43°
Toronto, Canada
Nice, France
Florence, Italy
Split, Croatia
42°
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Sofia, Bulgaria
Boston, USA
41°
Chicago, USA
Barcelona, Spain
Rome, Italy
Istanbul, Turkey
Sorrento, Italy
Bariloche, Argentina
40°
New York City, USA
Madrid, Spain
Naples, Italy
39°
Beijing, China
Ibiza, Spain
Valencia, Spain
38°
Washington DC, USA
Lisbon, Portugal
Mar del Plata, Argentina
Rotorua, New Zealand
37°
San Francisco, USA
Athens, Greece
Seoul, South Korea
Granada, Spain
Malaga, Spain
Seville, Spain
Mykonos, Greece
Faro, Portugal
Antalya, Turkey
Melbourne, Australia
36°
Las Vegas, USA
Rhodes, Greece
Santorini, Greece
Valletta, Malta
Kas, Turkey
Auckland, New Zealand
35°
Tokyo, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Osaka, Japan
34°
Los Angeles, USA
Fez, Morocco
Xian, China
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Montevideo, Uruguay
Sydney, Australia
Punta del Este, Uruguay
33°
Beirut, Lebanon
Santiago, Chile
Cape Town, South Africa
Mendoza, Argentina
Santiago, Chile
Valparaiso, Chile
32°
31°
Marrakech, Morocco
Amman, Jordan
Shanghai, China
Perth, Australia
30°
29°
28°
Delhi, India
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
Tenerife, Spain
27°
Kathmandu, Nepal
Brisbane, Australia
25°
Miami, USA
Dubai, UAE
Taipei, Taiwan
24°
23°
Los Cabos, Mexico
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil
22°
Macau, Macau
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Sapa, Vietnam
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21°
Honolulu, USA
Cancun, Mexico
Hanoi, Vietnam
Cozumel, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
19°
Mexico City, Mexico
Luang Prabang, Laos
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
18°
Mumbai, India
Chiang Mai, Thailand
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Montego Bay, Jamaica
17°
Antigua, Guatemala
San Pedro, Belize
Vientiane, Laos
Yangon, Myanmar
Hue, Vietnam
16°
La Paz, Bolivia
Cairns, Australia
15°
14°
Dakar, Senegal
Manila, Philippines
13°
Bangkok, Thailand
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Pattaya, Thailand
Nha Trang, Vietnam
Cusco, Peru
12°
Boracay Island, Philippines
Lima, Peru
11°
10°
Cartagena, Colombia
Caracas, Venezuela
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
9°
8°
Panama City, Panama
Kuta, Bali, Indonesia
Recife, Brazil
7°
Phuket Town, Thailand
Zanzibar City, Tanzania
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Jakarta, Indonesia
6°
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Medellin, Colombia
3°
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Arusha, Tanzania
1°
Singapore, Singapore
Nairobi, Kenya
0°
36 Responses to “174 World cities by latitude: Things line up in surprising ways”
I guess I have subconsciously also wanted to live somewhere cheaper, and not only warmer.
Good, but aren’t you kind of forgetting a hemisphere??
saintsaens, I know it was a bit confusing, but I added the Southern Hemisphere cities in the with others, in italics, and mentioned it at the top. I just thought it was more interesting to see where they matched up with the north. -Roger
Pse make a list of cities in the northern hemisphere and southern and how they relate as far as distance from equator go’s. For example I was in San Fran recently and being from Cape Town I wondered how our weather patterns compared and how far we were respectively from the equator or tropics
I was flabbergasted but a map confirmed your results. New York and Naples? LA and Sydney?? New Orleans is further south than Cairo??? Singapore is 1° from the Equator???? Oh boy! Has the world gone mad? This was great fun and very enlightening. Oh… and my geography really stinks. 🙂
Very good! I also like to do the same kind of research to myself.
Some places in my opinion that should be included: Oporto (Portugal) 41º north as well as some places in the southern hemisphere that are in a higher latitude than the paralel 40º south: Hobbart – Australia, Christchurch – New Zealand, Punta Arenas – Chile, Ushuaia – Argentina. The latter, albeit a small town, standing at the paralel 54º south is the most southerly town in the world. Its winters… in July and August… have plenty of snowfall.
Joao, thanks for the kind words and the comments. I agree that I could have added many interesting cities, like Murmansk or others right on the equator, but I was starting with my previous list of popular tourist cities, so I mainly wanted to see where those lined up around the world. -Roger
… and by the way aouthern hemisphere many cities in the tropical zone or close, are also missing: Salvador – Brazil, Brazilia – Brazil, Belo Horizonte – Brazil, São Paulo – Brazil (the largest city of the southern hemisphere, stands by the Tropic of Capricorn), Darwin – Australia, Brisbane – Australia (subtropical), Johannesburg – South Africa (subtropical), Durban – South Africa (subtropical). Jakarta – Indonesia.
I was also surprised at the longitude of some countries; Brazil pokes way out into the East. The Jet Lag was fierce when I arrived in Sao Paolo from Minneapolis!
How do I find out which middle eastern cities line up with Los Angeles? Ideas? Thanks, guys.
Herman,
Interesting question. It looks like Los Angeles (34 degrees north) is a bit north of Beirut and Baghdad, and a bit south of Tehran. I hope that helps. -Roger
Actually the majority of Sydney, including the city of Sydney, except the Sutherland shire to the south, is in the 33 latitude category, though the high 33 degrees.
you could add Wellington and Christchurch , New Zealand
and for interest sake Invercargill ,New Zealand is at 46 degrees South
(which makes it the 2nd most Southerly city on the planet)
Actually off the top of my head I can name Punta Arenas in Chile and Ushuaia in Argentina which are more southerly. Probably Puerto natales and El Calafate as well.
Interesting site. I think that you should include Usuahia in Argentina and Punta Arenas in Chile the most austral cities of the world.
Well, actually, you cannot guess climate by only latitude, it also depends on how mild/continental ckimate is which depends on how far from the sea you are and how warm or cold sea currents are if you are close to the sea. For example same latitudes in North America and in Siberia are much colder than in Europe, especially Western Europe. For example, here in S. Petersburg climate is mild and winter temperatures are from -10 to +5 C, but same latitudes in Siberia often have -30 to -40 C
Kate,
Thank you for the comment, but you seem to have summarized exactly what is above in the article and the list. -Roger
Great idea and fun to compare. You missed the italics on a few Southern Hemisphere cities: Bariloche, Mendoza and Mar del Plato in Argentina as well as Rotorua, New Zealand. Also Montevideo and La Paz are listed twice. Thanks for the thought-provoking list.
– Jim
James,
Thank you for the notes. We recently added about 70 cities and I will fix the mistakes that you pointed out. -Roger
Very interesting and some were a bit surprising.
BUT!!! There are no African cities, why?
Sorry, meant to say South African cities. Like Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Chrissie B,
Thanks, but Cape Town is there, along with 8 other African cities. The list mainly focuses on cities where tourists go, so you’ll find Cairo and Marrakech on the list, but there are also cities in Tanzania, Kenya, and Senegal on the list. -Roger
Add Porto Alegre and Curitiba from Brazil, both over 1.2 million in municipality and 4 million in metro area.
Because the list needs more high 20s / low 30s latitudes cities from the southern hemisphere.
Hi, very interesting page. Just some minor mistakes: Jakarta and Kuta should be italicised since they are on the southern side of equator.
Cheers, Hans.
Hans,
Thank you, and you are right. Good catch. I’ll fix that now. -Roger
why do so many people keep telling the author that hes missed some cities ! he aint gonna list evey bloody city !
Beirut, Lebanon is in the wrong category.
They aren’t in categories. They are listed according to latitudes. -Roger
Nice list, Roger, thanks. I had to prove to myself that Rome is farther north than NYC!
I never realized that some of the places i have been were at the same latitudes as Africa. Didn’t realize that Norway was so far north.
some tourist destinations you forgot:
Glasgow, Scotland, Manchester, UK
Luxor, Egypt, Agra, India
Johannesburg, South Africa, Varadero, Cuba.
those are major tourist destinations too
Also you listed Mexico city twice.
Excellent list though, got me thinking, and I like that.
X-ray,
I agree that it’s a very interesting study to see these places laid out like this, and I was surprised by many of them myself. I fixed the Mexico City thing so thanks for that.
We could make the list a LOT longer than it is and still be missing places that many people recognize, so it’s hard to know where to cut it off. I don’t consider Manchester a very touristy place, and same with Glasgow as well. Most of the places you mention are very close to places on the list, so that’s another reason not to list too many. Thanks though. -Roger
It was all explained to me when I at the time a 25-year old, visited Berkeley and was shocked to find palm trees in the San Francisco area. I called a meteorologist & he explained to me: A geographical locale on the west side of a continent has oceanic climate because of the direction of the Earth’s spin. So even Vancouver in Canada has a mild climate. Europe, especially, since the Gulf Stream provides additional warmth. The So West coast of England is located at 50 and the Cote d’Azure parallels Toronto. Nice can be downright warm in the winter and very rarely below 50-60 during the day, and it never snows in Cornwall! Southern Spain is quasi tropical.
I enjoyed looking at the latitude of different countries, but there is a HUGE problem. You have Los Angeles and Sydney on 34°. It looks like they share latitude, but that is SO WRONG. Sydney is below the equater and is -34°. Pkease fix this. Many ignorant people will be totally confused. Thanks for most everything else!
Kathy,
In bold letters near the top of the article it says, “Southern Hemisphere cities are in italics alongside the Northern Hemisphere cities” and Sydney is one of 29 southern cities on the list so it’s weird that you missed the other 28 of them.
The reason I did it this way is that I think it’s actually very interesting to see which cities in the north and south match up like Sydney and Los Angeles. Thank you for the kind words though and I’m glad you were able to not get thrown off too badly by this formatting. -Roger
Where’s Nicosia, Cyprus? You’ve got Valetta, Malta. I am guessing same as Tokyo
Gareth,
Nicosia, Cyprus is in the 35° so you are right that it’s basically the same latitude as Tokyo. Very well done. -Roger
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