VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’s own page.

Choose Santiago for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • 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. Salt Lake City and Santiago are level on 12.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Santiago 83: Salt Lake City leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City 72, Santiago 57: Salt Lake City leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City and Santiago are level on 55.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Santiago 37: Salt Lake City leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Salt Lake City and Santiago.

Your match

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

Salt Lake City
44match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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.

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Salt Lake CitySantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CitySantiago
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1,288 m575 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CitySantiago
City population199,7236,257,516
People per km²6907,468
Museums within 10 km1254
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Salt Lake City 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.