VacationSelector
Barlas Island in Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Puerto PrincesaBarlas Island in Honda Bay
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Puerto Princesa by Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Princesa 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 Princesa for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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 Princesa 58, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Princesa 38, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Princesa 22, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Princesa 26, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Princesa 80, Santa Monica 72: Puerto Princesa leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Puerto Princesa 12, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 52 points.
Good for families. Puerto Princesa 45, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Puerto Princesa 30, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Princesa 20, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 36 points.
Affordability. Puerto Princesa 78, Santa Monica 14: Puerto Princesa leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Princesa 10, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Princesa 40, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Princesa and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Puerto Princesa
38match

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

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips 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 Princesa in July

29 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
216 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto PrincesaSanta Monica

Where the figures come from

Puerto Princesa has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Princesa: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto PrincesaSanta Monica
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, Taglish-
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation98 m32 m
Main airportPuerto Princesa International Airport / PAF Antonio Bautista Air Base (PPS)2 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto PrincesaSanta Monica
City population316,38493,076
People per km²1334,270
Museums within 10 km119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Puerto Princesa or Santa Monica somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.