VacationSelector
The junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong
Hong KongThe junk Duk Ling in Victoria Harbour
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Hong Kong by LN9267, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Hong Kong 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 Hong Kong for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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. Hong Kong 50, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Hong Kong 90, San Sebastian 88: Hong Kong leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Hong Kong 60, San Sebastian 52: Hong Kong leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Hong Kong 68, San Sebastian 44: Hong Kong leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hong Kong 80, San Sebastian 72: Hong Kong leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Hong Kong 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Hong Kong 75, San Sebastian 66: Hong Kong leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Hong Kong 97, San Sebastian 80: Hong Kong leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Hong Kong 88, San Sebastian 40: Hong Kong leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Hong Kong 27, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hong Kong 55, San Sebastian 45: Hong Kong leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hong Kong 42, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hong Kong and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Hong Kong
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Hong Kong in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
381 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Hong KongSan 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. Hong Kong: 1991-2020 normals, King's Park (4.4 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHong KongSan Sebastian
Official languageStandard ChineseSpanish
CurrencyHong Kong Dollar (HKD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number999112
Elevation7 m6 m
Main airportHong Kong International Airport (HKG)25 km from centre148 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHong KongSan Sebastian
City population7,413,070189,866
People per km²-3,118
Museums within 10 km3914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hong Kong 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). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.