VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

London or Santiago?

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 London for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santiago for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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. London 25, Santiago 12: London leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Santiago 60: London leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Santiago 52: London leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Santiago 60: London leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Day trips. London 90, Santiago 70: London leads by 20 points.
Good for families. London 82, Santiago 57: London leads by 25 points.
Getting around. London 85, Santiago 68: London leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Santiago 52: London leads by 43 points.
Affordability. London 15, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Santiago 55: London leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Santiago 37: London leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Santiago.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
LondonSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonSantiago
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation4 m575 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonSantiago
City population8,799,7286,257,516
People per km²5,5987,468
Museums within 10 km21654
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Santiago 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.