VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The County Courthouse and its garden, Santa Barbara
Santa BarbaraThe County Courthouse and its garden

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Barbara by Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Santa Barbara?

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 Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Santa Barbara for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Barbara’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. Kathmandu 4, Santa Barbara 60: Santa Barbara leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Santa Barbara 62: Santa Barbara leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Santa Barbara 48: Kathmandu leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Santa Barbara 34: Kathmandu leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Santa Barbara 80: Santa Barbara leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Santa Barbara 55: Kathmandu leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Santa Barbara 64: Santa Barbara leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Santa Barbara 46: Santa Barbara leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Santa Barbara 45: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Santa Barbara 15: Kathmandu leads by 82 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Santa Barbara 50: Santa Barbara leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Santa Barbara 50: Santa Barbara leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Santa Barbara.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Barbara
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Santa Barbara in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduSanta Barbara

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Santa Barbara: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Barbara / La Patera (11.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduSanta Barbara
Official languageNepali-
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101911
Elevation1,300 m15 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsSanta Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)12 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduSanta Barbara
City population845,76788,665
People per km²17,121816
Museums within 10 km910
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Kathmandu or Santa Barbara 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.