VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Tangier?

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

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Tangier for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Tangier 58: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Tangier 57: Tangier leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Tangier 30: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Tangier 55: Santa Monica leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Tangier 72: Tangier leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Tangier 35: Santa Monica leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Tangier 40: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Tangier 42: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Tangier 28: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Santa Monica
51match

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

Tangier
49match

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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaTangier
Official language-Arabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number911Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation32 m56 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaTangier
City population93,0761,275,428
People per km²4,2706,393
Museums within 10 km196
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone3 months

Where else could you go?

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