VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Faro 74, Santiago 12: Faro leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Santiago 57: Faro leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Santiago 58: Faro leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Santiago 37: Santiago leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

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
FaroSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSantiago
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation10 m575 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSantiago
City population64,5606,257,516
People per km²3197,468
Museums within 10 km254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.