VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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. Philadelphia 36, Santa Fe 5: Philadelphia leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia and Santa Fe are level on 62.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, Santa Fe 66: Philadelphia leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, Santa Fe 22: Philadelphia leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia 80, Santa Fe 70: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, Santa Fe 45: Philadelphia leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, Santa Fe 40: Philadelphia leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, Santa Fe 30: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, Santa Fe 55: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 29 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Santa Fe
49match

Wins on wellness 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.

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaSanta 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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaSanta 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
Elevation12 m2,134 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaSanta Fe
City population1,603,79787,505
People per km²4,339645
Museums within 10 km5410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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