VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Geneva 45, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, San Sebastian 52: Geneva leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, San Sebastian 72: Geneva leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Geneva and San Sebastian are level on 80.
Good for families. Geneva 57, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, San Sebastian 80: Geneva leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, San Sebastian 40: Geneva leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, San Sebastian 45: Geneva leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, San Sebastian 50: Geneva leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Geneva
57match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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
GenevaSan 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. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaSan Sebastian
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation403 m6 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaSan Sebastian
City population211,152189,866
People per km²13,2803,118
Museums within 10 km3414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or San Sebastian somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.