VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu 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 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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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. Puerto Iguazu 5, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, Santa Monica 72: Puerto Iguazu leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, Santa Monica 52: Puerto Iguazu leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, Santa Monica 14: Puerto Iguazu leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica 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 Santa Monica.

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.

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and shopping 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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 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 IguazuSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSanta Monica
City population54,90393,076
People per km²-4,270
Museums within 10 km019
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.