VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santiago or Tromso?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Santiago leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Tromso 36: Santiago leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Tromso 27: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Tromso 38: Santiago leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Tromso 14: Santiago leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Tromso 45: Santiago leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Tromso 60: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Tromso 15: Santiago leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Tromso 11: Santiago leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Tromso 32: Santiago leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Tromso 38: Tromso leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Tromso.

Your match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoTromso
Official languageSpanishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation575 m20 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoTromso
City population6,257,51679,943
People per km²7,46832
Museums within 10 km548
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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