VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santiago for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • day trips

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. Los Angeles 60, Santiago 12: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Santiago 60: Los Angeles leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Santiago 52: Los Angeles leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Santiago 60: Los Angeles leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Santiago 57: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Santiago 52: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Santiago 55: Los Angeles leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Santiago 37: Los Angeles leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Santiago.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and shopping with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSantiago
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation106 m575 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSantiago
City population3,898,7476,257,516
People per km²2,9947,468
Museums within 10 km3954
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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