VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fukuoka 50, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Santa Monica 60: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Santa Monica 35: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Santa Monica 38: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Santa Monica 64: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Santa Monica 70: Fukuoka leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Santa Monica 52: Fukuoka leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Santa Monica 56: Fukuoka leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Santa Monica 14: Fukuoka leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Santa Monica 38: Fukuoka leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Santa Monica 45: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaSanta Monica
Official languageJapanese-
CurrencyYen (JPY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119911
Elevation8 m32 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaSanta Monica
City population1,603,04393,076
People per km²4,7154,270
Museums within 10 km2319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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