VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala or Valparaiso?

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

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Valparaiso 62: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Valparaiso 60: Antigua Guatemala leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala 38, Valparaiso 33: Antigua Guatemala leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Valparaiso 44: Antigua Guatemala leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Valparaiso 30: Antigua Guatemala leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Valparaiso 60: Antigua Guatemala leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Valparaiso 18: Antigua Guatemala leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Antigua Guatemala
47match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Antigua GuatemalaValparaiso

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.

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaValparaiso
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1,582 m21 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaValparaiso
City population59,091296,655
People per km²-6,180
Museums within 10 km217
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 Valparaiso 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. 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.