VacationSelector
The top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain, Vail
VailThe top of the Mountaintop Express lift on Vail Mountain
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Vail by DReifGalaxyM31, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Vail 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 Vail for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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. Vail 5, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Vail 35, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Vail 10, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Vail 30, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Vail 92, Valparaiso 60: Vail leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Vail 45, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Vail 55, Valparaiso 33: Vail leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Vail 62, Valparaiso 44: Vail leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Vail 35, Valparaiso 30: Vail leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Vail 5, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Vail 42, Valparaiso 38: Vail leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Vail 48, Valparaiso 18: Vail leads by 30 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Vail
39match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Valparaiso
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Vail in July

29 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
35 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
VailValparaiso

Where the figures come from

Vail's temperatures are measured 47 km from the centre, at Kremmling.

Vail's station stands 186 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Vail 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.

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. Vail: 2006-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Kremmling (46.5 km from centre). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVailValparaiso
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation2,445 m21 m
Main airportEagle County Regional Airport (EGE)48 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureVailValparaiso
City population4,835296,655
People per km²4006,180
Museums within 10 km117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Vail or Valparaiso 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.