VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • getting around

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. Hurghada 84, Santa Monica 66: Hurghada leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Santa Monica 38: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada and Santa Monica are level on 72.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Santa Monica 14: Hurghada leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips 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.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaSanta Monica
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation11 m32 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaSanta Monica
City population214,24793,076
People per km²-4,270
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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