VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Santiago?

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 Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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. Adelaide 68, Santiago 12: Adelaide leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Santiago 60: Adelaide leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Santiago 57: Adelaide leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Santiago 55: Adelaide leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Santiago 37: Adelaide leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Santiago.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Adelaide
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideSantiago
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number000Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1 m575 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideSantiago
City population1,387,2906,257,516
People per km²1,0717,468
Museums within 10 km1354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Santiago 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. 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.