VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

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

Santiago de Compostela or Valletta?

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
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Valletta 55: Santiago de Compostela leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Valletta 56: Santiago de Compostela leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Valletta 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Valletta 50: Santiago de Compostela leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela 40, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Valletta 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Valletta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Santiago de CompostelaValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation260 m56 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaValletta
City population100,9655,197
People per km²4596,496
Museums within 10 km616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela or Valletta 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.