VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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. Dublin 27, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, San Sebastian 52: Dublin leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, San Sebastian 44: Dublin leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, San Sebastian 40: Dublin leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, San Sebastian 45: Dublin leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Dublin
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
DublinSan 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. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinSan 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
Elevation20 m6 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinSan Sebastian
City population592,713189,866
People per km²5,1543,118
Museums within 10 km4014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Dublin 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.