VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Santiago de Compostela or Seattle?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Seattle 66: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Seattle 50: Santiago de Compostela leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Seattle 55: Santiago de Compostela leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Seattle 60: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Seattle 22: Santiago de Compostela leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela 40, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Seattle 40: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Seattle.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santiago de CompostelaSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaSeattle
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation260 m40 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaSeattle
City population100,965737,015
People per km²4591,996
Museums within 10 km627
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela or Seattle 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.