VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Santa Fe?

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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Santa Fe 5: Antigua Guatemala leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Santa Fe 66: Antigua Guatemala leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Santa Fe 22: Antigua Guatemala leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Santa Fe 70: Santa Fe leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Santa Fe 45: Santa Fe leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Santa Fe 40: Antigua Guatemala leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Santa Fe 30: Antigua Guatemala leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Fe
49match

Wins on live music and the arts and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaSanta Fe

Where the figures come from

Antigua Guatemala 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.

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaSanta Fe
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123911
Elevation1,582 m2,134 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaSanta Fe
City population59,09187,505
People per km²-645
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Santa Fe 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.