VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Tel Aviv?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Tel Aviv 57: Tel Aviv leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Tel Aviv 52: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Tel Aviv 68: Santa Monica leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Tel Aviv 64: Tel Aviv leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Tel Aviv 55: Santa Monica leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica and Tel Aviv are level on 14.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Tel Aviv 35: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Tel Aviv.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
51match

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

Tel Aviv
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaTel Aviv

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

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaTel Aviv
Official language-Hebrew
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 100, fire 102
Elevation32 m5 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaTel Aviv
City population93,076467,875
People per km²4,2708,998
Museums within 10 km1998
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone7 months

Where else could you go?

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