VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Santa Monica or Ushuaia?

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
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Santa Monica leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Ushuaia 40: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Ushuaia 22: Santa Monica leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Ushuaia 18: Santa Monica leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Ushuaia 14: Santa Monica leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Ushuaia 40: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Ushuaia 45: Santa Monica leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Ushuaia 22: Santa Monica leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Ushuaia 10: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Ushuaia 26: Santa Monica 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 Ushuaia.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaUshuaia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaUshuaia
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation32 m23 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaUshuaia
City population93,07682,615
People per km²4,2703,592
Museums within 10 km195
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Ushuaia 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.