VacationSelector
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Monaco 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 Monaco for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • prices
  • families
  • shopping

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. Monaco 68, Santa Monica 66: Monaco leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Monaco 57, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Monaco 55, Santa Monica 35: Monaco leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Monaco 48, Santa Monica 38: Monaco leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Monaco 70, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Monaco 84, Santa Monica 64: Monaco leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Monaco 60, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Monaco 78, Santa Monica 52: Monaco leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Monaco 52, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Monaco 3, Santa Monica 14: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Monaco 63, Santa Monica 38: Monaco leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Monaco 55, Santa Monica 45: Monaco leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Monaco and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Monaco
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on prices 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.

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MonacoSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMonacoSanta Monica
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation68 m32 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMonacoSanta Monica
City population38,85793,076
People per km²18,5034,270
Museums within 10 km1419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Monaco or Santa Monica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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.