VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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. Faro 74, San Sebastian 68: Faro leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, San Sebastian 32: Faro leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and getting around 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 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
FaroSan 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. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroSan Sebastian
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m6 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroSan Sebastian
City population64,560189,866
People per km²3193,118
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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.