VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Santiago or Wellington?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Wellington 44: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Wellington 45: Santiago leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Wellington 78: Santiago leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Wellington 40: Santiago leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Santiago and Wellington are level on 68.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Wellington 42: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Wellington 33: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Wellington 30: Santiago leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Wellington.

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.

Wellington
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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoWellington
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132111
Elevation575 m0 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoWellington
City population6,257,516216,200
People per km²7,468487
Museums within 10 km5412
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 Wellington 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.