VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santiago or Tampa?

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 for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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 12, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Tampa 57: Santiago leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Tampa 42: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Tampa 52: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Tampa 55: Santiago leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Tampa 54: Santiago leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Tampa 22: Santiago leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Tampa 40: Santiago leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Tampa 40: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Tampa 47: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Tampa 30: Santiago leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Tampa.

Your match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

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 in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoTampa
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132911
Elevation575 m30 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoTampa
City population6,257,516384,959
People per km²7,468848
Museums within 10 km546
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago or Tampa 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.