VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Santiago for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Santiago 12: Fort Lauderdale leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Santiago 57: Fort Lauderdale leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale and Santiago are level on 52.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Santiago 37: Fort Lauderdale leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Santiago.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleSantiago
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation11 m575 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleSantiago
City population182,7606,257,516
People per km²1,8297,468
Museums within 10 km654
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.