VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Maastricht or Santa Fe?

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 Maastricht for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’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. Maastricht 8, Santa Fe 5: Maastricht leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht 60, Santa Fe 66: Santa Fe leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, Santa Fe 22: Maastricht leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, Santa Fe 70: Maastricht leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Maastricht 55, Santa Fe 45: Maastricht leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Maastricht 74, Santa Fe 40: Maastricht leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, Santa Fe 30: Maastricht leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Maastricht and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

Maastricht
Best match
52match

Wins on getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Santa Fe
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MaastrichtSanta Fe

Where the figures come from

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe 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. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtSanta Fe
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation49 m2,134 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtSanta Fe
City population120,22787,505
People per km²2,000645
Museums within 10 km2110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Maastricht or Santa Fe 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.