VacationSelector
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Sharm el-Sheikh or Valparaiso?

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 Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’s own page.

Choose Valparaiso for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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. Sharm el-Sheikh 87, Valparaiso 36: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 51 points.
Food & drink. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Sharm el-Sheikh 12, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Sharm el-Sheikh 42, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sharm el-Sheikh 82, Valparaiso 60: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Sharm el-Sheikh 30, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Sharm el-Sheikh 62, Valparaiso 33: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Sharm el-Sheikh 22, Valparaiso 44: Valparaiso leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Sharm el-Sheikh 25, Valparaiso 30: Valparaiso leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Sharm el-Sheikh 74, Valparaiso 60: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sharm el-Sheikh 10, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sharm el-Sheikh 50, Valparaiso 18: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 32 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Sharm el-Sheikh and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Sharm el-SheikhValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Sharm el-Sheikh has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Valparaiso 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. Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSharm el-SheikhValparaiso
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation1 m21 m
Main airportSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSharm el-SheikhValparaiso
City population73,000296,655
People per km²-6,180
Museums within 10 km117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sharm el-Sheikh or Valparaiso somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.