VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Alicante or San Francisco?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Alicante 82, San Francisco 25: Alicante leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, San Francisco 58: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Alicante and San Francisco are level on 72.
Good for families. Alicante 68, San Francisco 66: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, San Francisco 14: Alicante leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteSan Francisco
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation3 m16 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteSan Francisco
City population366,221873,965
People per km²1,8191,455
Museums within 10 km851
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or San Francisco 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.