VacationSelector
A classic car in front of the Capitolio, Havana
HavanaA classic car in front of the Capitolio
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Havana by AXP Photography, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Havana 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 Havana for

  • live music and the arts
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • getting around

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. Havana 64, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Havana 40, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. Havana 77, San Sebastian 52: Havana leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Havana 60, San Sebastian 44: Havana leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Havana 34, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Havana 38, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Havana 34, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Havana 38, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Havana 30, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Havana 58, San Sebastian 32: Havana leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Havana 74, San Sebastian 45: Havana leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Havana 22, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Havana and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Havana
47match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Havana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
118 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
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
HavanaSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Havana has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

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. Havana: 1991-2020 normals, Casa Blanca, La Habana (3.5 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHavanaSan Sebastian
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyCuban Peso (CUP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 106, ambulance 104, fire 105112
Elevation59 m6 m
Main airportJosé Martí International Airport (HAV)17 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHavanaSan Sebastian
City population2,492,618189,866
People per km²3,4233,118
Museums within 10 km1214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Havana 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). 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). Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under 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. 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.