VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Neues Schloss with magnolias in bloom, Stuttgart
StuttgartNeues Schloss with magnolias in bloom

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Stuttgart by Baden de, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Stuttgart?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Stuttgart for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Stuttgart’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, Stuttgart 8: Santa Monica leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Stuttgart 58: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Stuttgart 62: Stuttgart leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Stuttgart 42: Stuttgart leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Stuttgart 60: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Stuttgart 80: Stuttgart leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Stuttgart 66: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Stuttgart 72: Stuttgart leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Stuttgart 58: Stuttgart leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Stuttgart 40: Stuttgart leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Stuttgart 74: Stuttgart leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Stuttgart 64: Stuttgart leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Stuttgart.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
51match

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

Stuttgart
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Stuttgart in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
79 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaStuttgart

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Stuttgart: 1991-2020 normals, Stuttgart / Neckartal (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaStuttgart
Official language-German
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation32 m245 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsStuttgart Airport (STR)10 km from centre124 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaStuttgart
City population93,076609,365
People per km²4,2702,938
Museums within 10 km1942
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Stuttgart 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.