Photos: La Paz by Arabsalam, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
La Paz 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 La Paz for
- prices
- culture and sights
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on La Paz’s own page.
Choose Santa Monica for
- beaches
- families
- wellness
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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: La Paz and Santa Monica.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.
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.
La Paz in July
Santa Monica in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
La Paz has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. La Paz: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | La Paz | Santa Monica |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish, Aymara, Quechua, Guarani | - |
| Currency | Boliviano (BOB) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AC50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-4 | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 3,640 m | 32 m |
| Main airport | El Alto International Airport (LPB)6 km from centre12 non-stop destinations | Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | La Paz | Santa Monica |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 755,732 | 93,076 |
| People per km² | 1,601 | 4,270 |
| Museums within 10 km | 21 | 19 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| 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 La Paz or Santa Monica somewhere new.