VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Antwerp 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 Antwerp for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Antwerp 15, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Santa Monica 60: Antwerp leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Santa Monica 35: Antwerp leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Santa Monica 38: Antwerp leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Santa Monica 64: Antwerp leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Santa Monica 52: Antwerp leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Santa Monica 56: Antwerp leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Santa Monica 14: Antwerp leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Santa Monica 38: Antwerp leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antwerp and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Antwerp
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antwerp in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpSanta Monica

Where the figures come from

Antwerp 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.

Antwerp's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Uccle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpSanta Monica
Official languageFrench, German, Dutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation7 m32 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpSanta Monica
City population529,24793,076
People per km²2,5424,270
Museums within 10 km3819
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km91
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 Antwerp 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). 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. 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.