VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Santiago de Compostela or Scottsdale?

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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’s own page.

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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. Santiago de Compostela 32, Scottsdale 8: Santiago de Compostela leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Scottsdale 46: Santiago de Compostela leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Scottsdale 38: Santiago de Compostela leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Scottsdale 50: Santiago de Compostela leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Scottsdale 20: Santiago de Compostela leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Scottsdale 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela and Scottsdale are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santiago de CompostelaScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaScottsdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation260 m380 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaScottsdale
City population100,965241,361
People per km²459-
Museums within 10 km610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela or Scottsdale 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.