VacationSelector
Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Orlando
OrlandoCinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Orlando by Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Orlando 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 Orlando for

  • families
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. Orlando 42, Santa Fe 5: Orlando leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Orlando 48, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Orlando 22, Santa Fe 66: Santa Fe leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Orlando 40, Santa Fe 22: Orlando leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Orlando 46, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Orlando 58, Santa Fe 70: Santa Fe leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Orlando 98, Santa Fe 45: Orlando leads by 53 points.
Getting around. Orlando 8, Santa Fe 40: Santa Fe leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Orlando 58, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Orlando 36, Santa Fe 30: Orlando leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Orlando 40, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Orlando 32, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 23 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Orlando and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

Orlando
44match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Santa Fe
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Orlando in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
OrlandoSanta 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. Orlando: 1991-2020 normals, Orlando Airport (14.2 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOrlandoSanta Fe
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation34 m2,134 m
Main airportOrlando International Airport (MCO)14 km from centre169 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOrlandoSanta Fe
City population334,85487,505
People per km²1,086645
Museums within 10 km1110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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