VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Faro or San Diego?

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 Faro for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose San Diego for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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. Faro 74, San Diego 72: Faro leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, San Diego 62: San Diego leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, San Diego 50: San Diego leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, San Diego 48: San Diego leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, San Diego 77: San Diego leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, San Diego 60: Faro leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, San Diego 38: Faro leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, San Diego 44: San Diego leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, San Diego 26: Faro leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, San Diego 56: San Diego leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, San Diego 45: San Diego leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and San Diego.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

San Diego
Best match
56match

Wins on families and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
FaroSan Diego

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSan Diego
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m129 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSan Diego
City population64,5601,386,932
People per km²3191,438
Museums within 10 km226
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro or San Diego 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.