VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

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

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • 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. Dublin 27, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Santa Monica 35: Dublin leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Santa Monica 38: Dublin leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Santa Monica 64: Dublin leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Santa Monica 52: Dublin leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Santa Monica 14: Dublin leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Santa Monica 38: Dublin leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 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: Dublin 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

Dublin
53match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
DublinSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinSanta Monica
Official languageEnglish, Irish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation20 m32 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinSanta Monica
City population592,71393,076
People per km²5,1544,270
Museums within 10 km4019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.