VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • prices

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. Chicago 50, Santiago 12: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Santiago 60: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Santiago 52: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Santiago 60: Chicago leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Santiago 57: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Santiago 68: Chicago leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Santiago 52: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Santiago 55: Chicago leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Santiago 37: Santiago leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

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

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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
ChicagoSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoSantiago
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation179 m575 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoSantiago
City population2,746,3886,257,516
People per km²4,5297,468
Museums within 10 km4454
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.