VacationSelector
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Oaxaca 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 Oaxaca for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • families

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. Oaxaca 5, Santiago 12: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Oaxaca 84, Santiago 60: Oaxaca leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Oaxaca 74, Santiago 52: Oaxaca leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Oaxaca 40, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oaxaca 62, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Oaxaca 65, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Oaxaca 40, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Oaxaca 55, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Oaxaca 62, Santiago 52: Oaxaca leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Oaxaca 77, Santiago 58: Oaxaca leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oaxaca 38, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oaxaca 50, Santiago 37: Oaxaca leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oaxaca and Santiago.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
OaxacaSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOaxacaSantiago
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1,555 m575 m
Main airportXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOaxacaSantiago
City population258,9136,257,516
People per km²3,0287,468
Museums within 10 km1054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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