VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santiago or Vancouver?

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

  • prices
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Vancouver 42: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Vancouver 42: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Vancouver 45: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Vancouver 27: Santiago leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Vancouver 52: Santiago leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Vancouver.

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
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoVancouver
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132911
Elevation575 m2 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoVancouver
City population6,257,516662,248
People per km²7,4685,759
Museums within 10 km5426
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 Vancouver 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.