VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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. Helsinki 28, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Santa Monica 35: Helsinki leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Santa Monica 38: Helsinki leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Santa Monica 70: Helsinki leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Santa Monica 52: Helsinki leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Santa Monica 56: Helsinki leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Santa Monica 14: Helsinki leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Santa Monica 38: Helsinki leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Santa Monica 45: Helsinki leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Helsinki and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiSanta Monica
Official languageFinnish, Swedish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation17 m32 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiSanta Monica
City population694,39293,076
People per km²3,2394,270
Museums within 10 km7419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Helsinki 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.