VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Santa Monica?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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 Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Santa Monica 35: Antigua Guatemala leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Santa Monica 72: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Santa Monica 52: Antigua Guatemala leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Santa Monica 14: Antigua Guatemala leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and families 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaSanta Monica

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.

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 Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123911
Elevation1,582 m32 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaSanta Monica
City population59,09193,076
People per km²-4,270
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala or Santa Monica 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.