VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu or San Diego?

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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose San Diego for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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. Puerto Iguazu 5, San Diego 72: San Diego leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, San Diego 62: San Diego leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, San Diego 50: San Diego leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, San Diego 48: San Diego leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, San Diego 77: Puerto Iguazu leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, San Diego 60: San Diego leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, San Diego 38: Puerto Iguazu leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, San Diego 44: San Diego leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, San Diego 26: Puerto Iguazu leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, San Diego 56: San Diego leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, San Diego 45: San Diego leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and San Diego.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

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

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSan Diego

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Diego
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m129 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Diego
City population54,9031,386,932
People per km²-1,438
Museums within 10 km026
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu or San Diego 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.