VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santa Monica or Zagreb?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Santa Monica leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Zagreb 55: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Zagreb 62: Santa Monica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Zagreb 60: Santa Monica leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Zagreb 52: Santa Monica leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Zagreb 40: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Zagreb 33: Santa Monica leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaZagreb
Official language-Croatian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation32 m127 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaZagreb
City population93,076767,131
People per km²4,270-
Museums within 10 km1927
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 Zagreb 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.