VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • prices
  • getting around

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. Los Angeles 60, Santo Domingo 58: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Santo Domingo 58: Los Angeles leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Santo Domingo 64: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Santo Domingo 66: Los Angeles leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Santo Domingo 36: Los Angeles leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Santo Domingo 44: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Santo Domingo 40: Los Angeles leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Santo Domingo 40: Santo Domingo leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Santo Domingo 44: Los Angeles leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Santo Domingo 46: Los Angeles leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Santo Domingo 22: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

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

Santo Domingo
49match

Wins on prices and getting around 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
20 °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
Los AngelesSanto Domingo

Where the figures come from

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. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSanto Domingo
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation106 m14 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSanto Domingo
City population3,898,7472,201,941
People per km²2,9941,691
Museums within 10 km3910
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

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