VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Victoria Falls?

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 Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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, Victoria Falls 7: Santa Monica leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Victoria Falls 24: Santa Monica leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Victoria Falls 12: Santa Monica leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Victoria Falls 8: Santa Monica leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Victoria Falls 22: Santa Monica leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Victoria Falls 38: Santa Monica leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Victoria Falls 45: Santa Monica leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Victoria Falls 18: Santa Monica leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Victoria Falls 32: Victoria Falls leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Victoria Falls 10: Santa Monica leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Victoria Falls 34: Santa Monica leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santa Monica and Victoria Falls.

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.

Victoria Falls
29match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaVictoria Falls

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaVictoria Falls
Official language-English, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911999
Elevation32 m961 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaVictoria Falls
City population93,07633,060
People per km²4,270-
Museums within 10 km192
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 Victoria Falls 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.