VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. Edinburgh 22, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Valparaiso 50: Edinburgh leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Valparaiso 62: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Valparaiso 60: Edinburgh leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Valparaiso 63: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Valparaiso 33: Edinburgh leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Valparaiso 44: Edinburgh leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Valparaiso 30: Edinburgh leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Valparaiso 38: Edinburgh leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Valparaiso 18: Edinburgh leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

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. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghValparaiso
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation47 m21 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghValparaiso
City population488,050296,655
People per km²1,8846,180
Museums within 10 km3217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.