VacationSelector
Lion's Head above Clifton Beach, Cape Town
Cape TownLion's Head above Clifton Beach
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Cape Town by Stephan Louis, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cape Town 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 Cape Town for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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. Cape Town 58, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Cape Town 72, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Cape Town 60, San Sebastian 52: Cape Town leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Cape Town 60, San Sebastian 44: Cape Town leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cape Town 98, San Sebastian 72: Cape Town leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Cape Town 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cape Town 58, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cape Town 35, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Cape Town 50, San Sebastian 40: Cape Town leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cape Town 72, San Sebastian 32: Cape Town leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cape Town 52, San Sebastian 45: Cape Town leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cape Town 45, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cape Town and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cape Town
61match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Cape Town in July

18 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 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
Cape TownSan 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. Cape Town: 1991-2020 normals, Cape Town Airport (17.5 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCape TownSan Sebastian
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation5 m6 m
Main airportCape Town International Airport (CPT)18 km from centre45 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCape TownSan Sebastian
City population3,776,313189,866
People per km²1,5383,118
Museums within 10 km2214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cape Town 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.