VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Guadalajara 5, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Santa Monica 60: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Santa Monica 35: Guadalajara leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Santa Monica 38: Guadalajara leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Santa Monica 64: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Santa Monica 56: Guadalajara leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Santa Monica 14: Guadalajara leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Santa Monica 38: Guadalajara leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraSanta Monica

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya-
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation1,536 m32 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre68 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraSanta Monica
City population1,385,62193,076
People per km²9,5564,270
Museums within 10 km1719
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Guadalajara or Santa Monica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.