VacationSelector
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Santiago or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Zurich for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Santiago 60, Zurich 53: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago 52, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Santiago 60, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago 83, Zurich 80: Santiago leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Santiago 70, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Santiago 57, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Santiago 68, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago 52, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Santiago 58, Zurich 3: Santiago leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago 55, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago 37, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago and Zurich.

Your match

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

Santiago
55match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
SantiagoZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiagoZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyChilean Peso (CLP)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCL220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-4, UTC-3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132112
Elevation575 m408 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiagoZurich
City population6,257,516440,935
People per km²7,4685,016
Museums within 10 km5463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago or Zurich 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.