VacationSelector
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Cork 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 Cork for

  • prices

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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. Cork 25, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Cork 58, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Cork 40, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Cork 40, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cork 62, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Cork 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Cork 50, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Cork 58, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Cork and San Sebastian are level on 40.
Affordability. Cork 33, San Sebastian 32: Cork leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cork and San Sebastian are level on 45.
Wellness & relaxation. Cork 22, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cork and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Cork
45match

Wins on prices 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.

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CorkSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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. Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCorkSan Sebastian
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m6 m
Main airportCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCorkSan Sebastian
City population222,333189,866
People per km²5,9613,118
Museums within 10 km514
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Cork 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). 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. 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.