VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Avignon or San Sebastian?

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 Avignon for

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

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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. Avignon 22, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, San Sebastian 52: Avignon leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, San Sebastian 80: Avignon leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, San Sebastian 32: Avignon leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, San Sebastian 45: Avignon leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Avignon and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Avignon
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonSan Sebastian
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m6 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonSan Sebastian
City population92,188189,866
People per km²1,4203,118
Museums within 10 km1114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km63
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Avignon or San Sebastian 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). 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.