VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • 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. Faro 74, Santa Monica 66: Faro leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Faro and Santa Monica are level on 35.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Faro and Santa Monica are level on 64.
Good for families. Faro 60, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Santa Monica 52: Faro leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Santa Monica 14: Faro leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro 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

Faro
49match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSanta Monica
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m32 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSanta Monica
City population64,56093,076
People per km²3194,270
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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.