VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Santiago or Windhoek?

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
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Windhoek 36: Santiago leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Windhoek 30: Santiago leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Windhoek 25: Santiago leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Windhoek 52: Santiago leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Windhoek 14: Santiago leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Windhoek 30: Santiago leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Windhoek 22: Santiago leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Windhoek 30: Santiago leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Windhoek 18: Santiago leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Windhoek 30: Santiago leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Windhoek.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices 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

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoWindhoek
Official languageSpanishEnglish
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132112
Elevation575 m1,650 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoWindhoek
City population6,257,516486,169
People per km²7,46895
Museums within 10 km545
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 Windhoek 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.