VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu or Santiago de Compostela?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, Santiago de Compostela 45: Santiago de Compostela leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, Santiago de Compostela 62: Puerto Iguazu leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, Santiago de Compostela 72: Santiago de Compostela leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, Santiago de Compostela 42: Puerto Iguazu leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, Santiago de Compostela 35: Santiago de Compostela leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, Santiago de Compostela 40: Santiago de Compostela leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

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

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

Wins on culture and sights and food and drink 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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSantiago de Compostela

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSantiago de Compostela
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911112
Elevation162 m260 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSantiago de Compostela
City population54,903100,965
People per km²-459
Museums within 10 km06
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Santiago de Compostela 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.