Sydney and London are two of the most interesting and attractive cities in the world.
And while London is probably more popular and famous, there are some very serious reasons to consider Sydney as a generally better city to live, work and travel.
1. Sydney enjoys better climate and weather
Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge by Ross Fowler
London is actually not as cloudy, foggy and grey as people might expect.
It has a typical temperate climate with softening influence from the Atlantic Ocean.
More from Australia:Winters are mild with temperatures of around 7°C, and summers are pleasantly warm with temperatures of around 24°C during the day.
Even if having a nice climate, London could not be compared with Sydney.
As you probably expect from sunny Australia, Sydney has a climate that is much warmer than that of London.
The city is located in the subtropical climate zone, and it has long and hot summers and short mild winters.
The weather from November to March is warm to hot with temperatures ranging between 26 – 30°C on average but with possible occasional heat waves with temperatures of over 40°C.
The winter season, which covers the months of June, July and August, brings temperatures of between 16 and 18°C on average during the day but with some days being quite cold and windy.
In addition, Sydney is much sunnier than London, and the number of rainy days is incomparably lower.
2. Beaches in Sydney are closer and better
Bondi Beach, Sydney by penreyes
London has a lot to offer to its visitors and residents.
When it comes to beaches, however, Sydney is definitely one of the most attractive places on the planet.
Indeed, not far from London, in East Sussex, you can find some really nice beaches, but they are not situated in the city itself, and in addition, they are hard to compare with the world class Bondi and Manly.
When it comes to the beach season, the difference between London and Sydney is significant too.
If you live in London, the beach season for you will be about two, in rare cases three months.
In Sydney you can enjoy five or six months of great weather.
3. The Sydney Harbour beats the River Thames
Evening Skyline – London by Davide D’Amico
London is world famous with the River Thames.
It runs through the central part of the city, which is one of the most important financial districts in the world.
The river banks are also dotted by some of the most popular tourist attractions in the country such as the Palace of Westminster, London Eye, Tower Bridge and many many others.
The equivalent of the River Thames in Australia is the world famous Sydney Harbour and especially the area of Darling Harbour.
Sydney offers its visitors an amazing experience with its numerous restaurants and tourist attractions such as Taronga zoo and Sydney Sea Life Aquarium.
In addition, here you will find two of the city’s most famous structures – the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
4. Sydney is a safer place to live or visit
View from Sydney Tower Eye by Matthew J Photos
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest advantages of Sydney is the lower level of crime.
Of course, we don’t say that Sydney is perfect because it also has its problems and difficulties.
The situation in Sydney, however, is incomparable with the situation in London.
While Sydney is considered one of the safest areas with multi million population on the planet, London, just the opposite, is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the western world.
It shares one of the leading positions with a few other cities such as Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), Acapulco (Mexico), Moscow (Russia), Manchester (UK) and Detroit (USA).
5. Sydney is more friendly to foreigners
While Sydney and London are equally cosmopolitan, the atmosphere in the two cities recently is actually a bit different in favour of Sydney.
Over the last years London has significantly increased its population.
That was one of the reasons why the country voted to leave the European Union with the assumption to reduce the flow of migrants.
On the other side, Sydney has no similar problems because most of the population of the city consists of people who were born in other countries.
In addition, the migrant policy of Australia is different and the geographical distance also plays its role.
6. Better quality of life
The city of Sydney from above by Pavel
Sydney often presents in the list of the top 10 best cities to live in the word.
It often shares the leading positions with cities from Austria, Canada, Scandinavia, Germany and New Zealand.
When it comes to the quality of life, London still has a lot to improve.
Of course, we cannot miss the fact that London is probably one of the best places in the world to have fun, and still, there are many other factors which need to be improved.
Actually, according to the list of human developing index for 2015, there is a big difference between Australia, which takes the 2nd place in the world, and the United Kingdom, which takes the 14th position.
7. Better place to work and make business
The city of London – view from Greenwich Hill by Davide D’Amico
Over the last few years Sydney has become one of the best places to work in the world when it comes to the level of the average salary.
If you are working the at the same position in Sydney and in London, you will probably be much better paid in the Australian megalopolis.
The same applies if you are interested in starting your own business.
Although both cities are equally good when it comes to the level of easiness to start business, the city on the east coast of Australia usually performs much better than most developed cities in the world.
Actually, over the years of the world financial crisis Sydney remained one of the most prosperous and unaffected cities in the world.
8. Life expectancy in Australia is higher
London streets by Pedro Szekely
Australia occupies the 4th position in the world in terms of the average life expectancy.
It is respectively 84.8 years for females and 80.9 years for males.
The United Kingdom occupies the 20th position with 83.0 years for females and 79.4 years for males.
9. Sydney offers better options for outdoor activities
Because of its better climate, Sydney is a generally better place for the lovers of the outdoor activities.
Even if London is a city with numerous parks and gardens, Sydney also can offer numerous green areas, sport facilities, swimming pools, beaches and many others but in combination with nice weather and higher temperatures.
10. Sydney has more impressive skyline
River Thames, seen from The Shard Tower at night by Charlie Marshall
London works hard over its modern looking silhouette.
Nowadays, it has some really stylish skyscrapers, which are actually among the most impressive in Europe.
However, London has a long way to go before it reaches the skyline of Sydney.
Actually, the downtown of Sydney is mainly developed by high rising skyscrapers.
For this reason, it reminds the cities in North America, while London is much more European and dominated by other type of architecture.
More from Australia:
