VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bergen or San Jose?

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 Bergen for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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. Bergen 20, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, San Jose 36: Bergen leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, San Jose 33: Bergen leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, San Jose 72: Bergen leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, San Jose 30: Bergen leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, San Jose 20: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, San Jose 38: Bergen leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, San Jose 30: Bergen leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and San Jose.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bergen
46match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenSan Jose
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi-
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)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 numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m25 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenSan Jose
City population291,1891,013,240
People per km²3,3392,167
Museums within 10 km3119
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or San Jose 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). 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. 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.