VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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. Johannesburg 5, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, San Sebastian 52: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, San Sebastian 44: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 62 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, San Sebastian 40: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, San Sebastian 32: Johannesburg leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, San Sebastian 45: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

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.

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 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
JohannesburgSan 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. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgSan Sebastian
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m6 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgSan Sebastian
City population4,803,262189,866
People per km²2,9223,118
Museums within 10 km1414
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 Johannesburg 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. 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. 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.