VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

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

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Guadalajara 5, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, San Sebastian 52: Guadalajara leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, San Sebastian 44: Guadalajara leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, San Sebastian 40: Guadalajara leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, San Sebastian 32: Guadalajara leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, San Sebastian 45: Guadalajara leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraSan Sebastian
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaSpanish
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,536 m6 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraSan Sebastian
City population1,385,621189,866
People per km²9,5563,118
Museums within 10 km1714
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 Guadalajara or San Sebastian somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.