VacationSelector
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Panama City 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 Panama City for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • families
  • wellness
  • beaches

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. Panama City 44, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Santa Monica 35: Panama City leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Santa Monica 38: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Santa Monica 72: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Santa Monica 14: Panama City leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 23 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Panama City
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CitySanta Monica

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CitySanta Monica
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation20 m32 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CitySanta Monica
City population1,540,00093,076
People per km²5,6004,270
Museums within 10 km1019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Panama City or Santa Monica 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.