VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

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. Rome 50, Santiago 12: Rome leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Santiago 60: Rome leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Santiago 52: Rome leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Santiago 70: Rome leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Santiago 57: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Santiago 52: Rome leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Santiago 55: Rome leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Santiago 37: Rome leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeSantiago

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: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSantiago
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation21 m575 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSantiago
City population2,748,1096,257,516
People per km²2,1357,468
Museums within 10 km17854
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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