VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Taipei?

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

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

Choose Taipei for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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, Taipei 40: Santa Monica leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Taipei 88: Taipei leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Taipei 68: Taipei leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Taipei 58: Taipei leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Taipei 78: Taipei leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Taipei 76: Taipei leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Taipei 72: Taipei leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Taipei 70: Taipei leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Taipei 66: Taipei leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Taipei 55: Taipei leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 35 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Taipei
Best match
70match

Wins on prices and wellness 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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaTaipei

Where the figures come from

Taipei has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaTaipei
Official language-Taiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911110 or 112 or 119
Elevation32 m10 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaTaipei
City population93,0762,429,429
People per km²4,2708,938
Museums within 10 km1969
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Monica or Taipei 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. 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.