VacationSelector
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Key West or Santo Domingo?

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 Key West for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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. Key West 60, Santo Domingo 58: Key West leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Key West 45, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Key West 40, Santo Domingo 64: Santo Domingo leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Key West 62, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Key West 62, Santo Domingo 36: Key West leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Key West 28, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Key West and Santo Domingo are level on 40.
Getting around. Key West 62, Santo Domingo 40: Key West leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Key West 30, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Key West 15, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Key West 38, Santo Domingo 46: Santo Domingo leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Key West 40, Santo Domingo 22: Key West leads by 18 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Key West and Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Key West
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Santo Domingo
Best match
49match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Key WestSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West 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.

Santo Domingo 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. Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKey WestSanto Domingo
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation4 m14 m
Main airportKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKey WestSanto Domingo
City population26,4442,201,941
People per km²1,4071,691
Museums within 10 km710
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Key West or Santo Domingo 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). 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. 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.