VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Thessaloniki by Destinygreece, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santiago or Thessaloniki?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Thessaloniki 77: Thessaloniki leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Thessaloniki 66: Santiago leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Thessaloniki 74: Thessaloniki leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Thessaloniki 50: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Thessaloniki 60: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Thessaloniki 50: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Thessaloniki 52: Santiago leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Thessaloniki 33: Santiago leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Santiago
55match

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

Thessaloniki
Best match
61match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoThessaloniki
Official languageSpanishGreek
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132112
Elevation575 m6 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoThessaloniki
City population6,257,516309,617
People per km²7,46816,042
Museums within 10 km5432
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago or Thessaloniki 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. 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. 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.