VacationSelector
Praia Mole in Florianopolis, Florianopolis
FlorianopolisPraia Mole in Florianopolis
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Florianopolis by Papa Pic, CC0; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Florianopolis 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 Florianopolis for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • day trips

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. Florianopolis 85, Santa Monica 66: Florianopolis leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Florianopolis 58, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Florianopolis 33, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Florianopolis 60, Santa Monica 38: Florianopolis leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florianopolis 78, Santa Monica 72: Florianopolis leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Florianopolis 50, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Florianopolis 60, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Florianopolis 28, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Florianopolis 33, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Florianopolis 60, Santa Monica 14: Florianopolis leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florianopolis 28, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florianopolis and Santa Monica are level on 45.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florianopolis and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Florianopolis
52match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Florianopolis in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
FlorianopolisSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florianopolis: 1991-2020 normals, Florianopolis (1.7 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorianopolisSanta Monica
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation3 m32 m
Main airportHercílio Luz International Airport (FLN)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFlorianopolisSanta Monica
City population587,48693,076
People per km²8704,270
Museums within 10 km1119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Florianopolis 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.