VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
Victoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter, Victoria Falls
Victoria FallsVictoria Falls and its gorge from a helicopter

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Victoria Falls by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Santiago or Victoria Falls?

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

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Victoria Falls for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria Falls’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, Victoria Falls 7: Santiago leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Victoria Falls 24: Santiago leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Victoria Falls 12: Santiago leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Victoria Falls 8: Santiago leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Victoria Falls 94: Victoria Falls leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Victoria Falls 22: Santiago leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Victoria Falls 38: Santiago leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Victoria Falls 45: Santiago leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Victoria Falls 18: Santiago leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Victoria Falls 32: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Victoria Falls 10: Santiago leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Victoria Falls 34: Santiago leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Victoria Falls.

Your match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Victoria Falls
29match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
10 hdaylight a day

Victoria Falls in July

26 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoVictoria Falls

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Victoria Falls: 1991-2020 normals, Livingstone (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoVictoria Falls
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Xhosa, Ndau, Venda, Chewa, Khoisan, Kalanga, Shona, Tonga, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Northern Ndebele, Nambya, Zimbabwe Sign Language, Barwe
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Zimbabwe Gold (ZWG)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132999
Elevation575 m961 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsVictoria Falls International Airport (VFA)18 km from centre12 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoVictoria Falls
City population6,257,51633,060
People per km²7,468-
Museums within 10 km542
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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