VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Lima 42, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Santa Monica 60: Lima leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Santa Monica 35: Lima leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Santa Monica 38: Lima leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Santa Monica 14: Lima leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Santa Monica 38: Lima leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Lima
51match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on day trips 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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LimaSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaSanta Monica
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, Quechua-
CurrencySol (PEN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911911
Elevation154 m32 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaSanta Monica
City population9,943,80093,076
People per km²3,7214,270
Museums within 10 km4719
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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