VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Riga or Valparaiso?

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 Riga for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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. Riga 40, Valparaiso 36: Riga leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, Valparaiso 50: Riga leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, Valparaiso 62: Riga leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Riga 50, Valparaiso 33: Riga leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Riga 68, Valparaiso 44: Riga leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, Valparaiso 30: Riga leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Riga 62, Valparaiso 60: Riga leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, Valparaiso 38: Riga leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga 50, Valparaiso 18: Riga leads by 32 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Riga and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RigaValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Valparaiso has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaValparaiso
Official languageLatvianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation6 m21 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaValparaiso
City population588,911296,655
People per km²-6,180
Museums within 10 km1217
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 Riga or Valparaiso 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. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.