VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. Bangkok 12, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, San Sebastian 88: Bangkok leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, San Sebastian 52: Bangkok leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, San Sebastian 44: Bangkok leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, San Sebastian 40: Bangkok leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, San Sebastian 32: Bangkok leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, San Sebastian 45: Bangkok leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, San Sebastian 50: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

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. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokSan Sebastian
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation2 m6 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokSan Sebastian
City population5,676,648189,866
People per km²3,6193,118
Museums within 10 km5914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.