VacationSelector
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Delhi 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 Delhi for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Delhi 4, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Delhi 84, Santa Monica 60: Delhi leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Delhi 85, Santa Monica 35: Delhi leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Delhi 44, Santa Monica 38: Delhi leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Delhi 20, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Delhi 68, Santa Monica 64: Delhi leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Delhi 32, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Delhi 55, Santa Monica 52: Delhi leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Delhi 78, Santa Monica 56: Delhi leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Delhi 90, Santa Monica 14: Delhi leads by 76 points.
Live music & performing arts. Delhi 55, Santa Monica 38: Delhi leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Delhi 25, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Delhi and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Delhi
53match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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.

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DelhiSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDelhiSanta Monica
Official languageHindi, English-
CurrencyIndian Rupee (INR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number108 or 112911
Elevation221 m32 m
Main airportIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDelhiSanta Monica
City population26,495,00093,076
People per km²18,9624,270
Museums within 10 km2319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Delhi 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.