VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Rome 50, Santiago de Compostela 32: Rome leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Santiago de Compostela 68: Rome leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Santiago de Compostela 70: Rome leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Santiago de Compostela 45: Rome leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Santiago de Compostela 72: Rome leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Santiago de Compostela 42: Rome leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Santiago de Compostela 35: Rome leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Santiago de Compostela 40: Rome leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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
RomeSantiago de Compostela

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSantiago de Compostela
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m260 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSantiago de Compostela
City population2,748,109100,965
People per km²2,135459
Museums within 10 km1786
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km72
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome 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. 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). 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. 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.