VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Budapest 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 Budapest for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Budapest 25, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, San Sebastian 52: Budapest leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, San Sebastian 44: Budapest leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, San Sebastian 40: Budapest leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, San Sebastian 32: Budapest leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, San Sebastian 45: Budapest leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, San Sebastian 50: Budapest leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Budapest and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

San Sebastian
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.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestSan 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. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestSan Sebastian
Official languageHungarianSpanish
CurrencyForint (HUF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation117 m6 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestSan Sebastian
City population1,675,777189,866
People per km²3,1913,118
Museums within 10 km8114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Budapest 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). 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. 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.

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.