VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Reykjavik 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 Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • day trips

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. Reykjavik 12, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Santa Monica 60: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Santa Monica 35: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Santa Monica 38: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Santa Monica 72: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Santa Monica 52: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Santa Monica 56: Santa Monica leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Santa Monica 14: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Santa Monica 38: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Santa Monica 45: Reykjavik leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Santa Monica.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness 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.

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSanta Monica
Official languageIcelandic-
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation8 m32 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSanta Monica
City population138,77293,076
People per km²5694,270
Museums within 10 km2319
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.