VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Krakow or San Francisco?

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 Krakow for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Krakow 9, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow 77, San Francisco 68: Krakow leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, San Francisco 58: Krakow leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow 62, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Krakow 76, San Francisco 72: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, San Francisco 70: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow 48, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Krakow 72, San Francisco 14: Krakow leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow 36, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 6 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Krakow and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowSan Francisco
Official languagePolish-
CurrencyZloty (PLN)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation219 m16 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowSan Francisco
City population804,237873,965
People per km²2,4591,455
Museums within 10 km11351
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Krakow or San Francisco 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.