VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Jerusalem or Santa Fe?

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 Jerusalem for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’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. Jerusalem 40, Santa Fe 5: Jerusalem leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Santa Fe 62: Jerusalem leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Santa Fe 66: Jerusalem leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Santa Fe 22: Jerusalem leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Santa Fe 70: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Santa Fe 45: Jerusalem leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Santa Fe 40: Jerusalem leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Santa Fe 30: Santa Fe leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Fe
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JerusalemSanta Fe

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemSanta Fe
Official languageHebrew-
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102911
Elevation754 m2,134 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemSanta Fe
City population1,050,15187,505
People per km²8,374645
Museums within 10 km6910
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jerusalem or Santa Fe 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.