VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santiago or Whistler?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Whistler for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Whistler 40: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Whistler 20: Santiago leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Whistler 42: Santiago leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Whistler 30: Santiago leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Santiago and Whistler are level on 68.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Whistler 30: Santiago leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Whistler 12: Santiago leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Whistler 15: Santiago leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Whistler.

Your match

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

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on wellness and beaches 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

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoWhistler

Where the figures come from

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoWhistler
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 m670 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoWhistler
City population6,257,51613,982
People per km²7,46858
Museums within 10 km541
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 Whistler 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.