VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • food and drink

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. Amsterdam 25, Santiago 12: Amsterdam leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Santiago 52: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Santiago 60: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Santiago 70: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Santiago 57: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Santiago 68: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Santiago 52: Amsterdam leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Santiago 55: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Santiago 37: Amsterdam leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamSantiago

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamSantiago
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation-2 m575 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamSantiago
City population921,4686,257,516
People per km²4,2087,468
Museums within 10 km10154
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.