VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

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

Istanbul 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 Istanbul for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • 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. Istanbul 45, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, San Sebastian 52: Istanbul leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, San Sebastian 44: Istanbul leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, San Sebastian 40: Istanbul leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, San Sebastian 32: Istanbul leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, San Sebastian 45: Istanbul leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, San Sebastian 50: Istanbul leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Istanbul
Best match
67match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
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
IstanbulSan 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. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulSan Sebastian
Official languageTurkishSpanish
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m6 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulSan Sebastian
City population15,655,924189,866
People per km²2,9303,118
Museums within 10 km7314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Istanbul 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). 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. 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.