VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Sofia?

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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Sofia for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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. Santa Monica 66, Sofia 5: Santa Monica leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Sofia 45: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Sofia 60: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Sofia 40: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Sofia 38: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica and Sofia are level on 45.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Sofia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaSofia
Official language-Bulgarian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation32 m560 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaSofia
City population93,0761,213,134
People per km²4,2702,466
Museums within 10 km1942
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Monica or Sofia 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.