VacationSelector
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Valparaiso 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 Valparaiso for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Valparaiso 36, Whistler 30: Valparaiso leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Valparaiso 50, Whistler 40: Valparaiso leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Valparaiso 62, Whistler 20: Valparaiso leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Valparaiso 56, Whistler 42: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Valparaiso 60, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Valparaiso 63, Whistler 30: Valparaiso leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Valparaiso 33, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Valparaiso 44, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Valparaiso and Whistler are level on 30.
Affordability. Valparaiso 60, Whistler 12: Valparaiso leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Valparaiso 38, Whistler 15: Valparaiso leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Valparaiso 18, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Valparaiso and Whistler.

Your match

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

Valparaiso
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Valparaiso in July

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

Whistler in July

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

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ValparaisoWhistler

Where the figures come from

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.

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. Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureValparaisoWhistler
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
Elevation21 m670 m
Main airportComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 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

MeasureValparaisoWhistler
City population296,65513,982
People per km²6,18058
Museums within 10 km171
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Valparaiso 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. 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. 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.