VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Varanasi?

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
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Varanasi for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Santa Monica leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Varanasi 55: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Varanasi 10: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Varanasi 18: Santa Monica leads by 54 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Varanasi 42: Santa Monica leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Varanasi 5: Santa Monica leads by 65 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Varanasi 28: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Varanasi 55: Santa Monica leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 78 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Varanasi 30: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Santa Monica
Best match
51match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaVaranasi
Official language-Hindi, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number911108 or 112
Elevation32 m76 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaVaranasi
City population93,0761,198,491
People per km²4,27014,598
Museums within 10 km192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.