175 World cities by latitude: Things line up in surprising ways
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.
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.
Most interesting cities at similar latitudes
Venice, Italy and Montreal, Canada – Most people would be surprised to see that Canada’s northernmost major tourist city is on the same latitude line as Italy’s famous lagoon city.
Nice, France and Toronto, Canada – Toronto is farther south than most would assume when they are not looking at a map, and that puts it in line with France’s Côte d’Azur along its southern Mediterranean coast.
Chicago, USA and Barcelona, Spain and Istanbul, Turkey – Since Chicago is famous for being far north in the US, it seems surprising to line up with Barcelona in the far north of Spain, and also Istanbul, which many of us picture almost in the Middle East.
Beijing, China and Ibiza, Spain – I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve been to both, I’d never have guessed that they are on the same latitude based on what they feel like when you are there.
San Francisco, USA and Athens, Greece – Again, San Francisco is known for its year-round mild climate while Athens is known for being in a desert-like part of the Mediterranean.
175 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
Bariloche, Argentina
40°
New York City, USA
Madrid, Spain
Naples, Italy
Sorrento, Italy
39°
Beijing, China
Ibiza, Spain
Valencia, Spain
Pyongyang, North Korea
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°
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Zanzibar City, Tanzania
Jakarta, Indonesia
6°
Medellin, Colombia
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
3°
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Arusha, Tanzania
1°
Singapore, Singapore
Nairobi, Kenya
0°
You’re off on some of your cities. Buenos Aires is south of the equator as is many of the other cities you mentioned. They are not lattitude North they are lattitude South.
Please add Seattle!
Great list of facts not readily found elsewhere. You forgot Port Stanley at 51.6977° S. The capital of the Falkland Islands.
I noticed that Nairobi, Kenya and the three cities in Tanzania seems to be on the northern hemisphere according to your list.
That is not so.
All of them are south of the equator.
Great list BTW. :O)
Roy,
Good catch! It has been fixed. Thank you. -Roger
Sorrento is south of Naples and cannot be same latitude as Rome
Michael,
Thank you for pointing out the error. It has been fixed. -Roger
Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, is not listed. Here, in Europe, it’s a well known destination. TV France, for instance, displays weather forecasts for Ushuaia among a few other cities in America.
German,
Thanks for the comment. This is a travel website and so the cities on the list are all popular for travelers. In fact, this is one of the very few articles on the sight that brings in people who aren’t planning a trip. I just wrote it and updated it because I think it’s an interesting topic and many of us are unaware of which latitude many of these popular cities are on.
There are obviously thousands of cities that I didn’t include, including such notables as Murmansk. It’s pretty large, but almost no one would ever go there for tourism, so it doesn’t make the cut. I know that Ushuaia is popular among the tiny group of people who explore that area. Thanks for the comment though. -Roger
But you can’t compare the North along with the South on lattitude. Little Rock AR is 34 North while Buenos Aires is 34 South. that’s a big difference and that’s only one error I’m using for an example. No, you didn’t include Little Rock (Arkansas), I happened to look up the lattitude for that because I was curious as to what other cities around the world shared the same lattitude. If you’re gonna write an article, at least research and get your facts straight.
Bertha,
It clearly says at the top of the article that Southern Hemisphere cities are in italics next to Northern Hemisphere cities and it sounds like you’ve realized your mistake. Most people actually find this much more interesting because it shows the distance from the equator in both directions so you can see that Buenos Aires and Sydney are about the same distance from the equator as Los Angeles. I hope you are clear on this now. Thanks for taking the time to comment. -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
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
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 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