VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Reykjavik or Santiago?

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

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

Choose Santiago for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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 and Santiago are level on 12.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, Santiago 83: Reykjavik leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik 45, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, Santiago 37: Reykjavik leads by 51 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and Santiago.

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.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and day trips 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSantiago
Official languageIcelandicSpanish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation8 m575 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSantiago
City population138,7726,257,516
People per km²5697,468
Museums within 10 km2354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik or Santiago 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.