VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Krakow or San Jose?

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
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 Jose 30: San Jose leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow 77, San Jose 36: Krakow leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, San Jose 33: Krakow leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow 62, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Krakow 76, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, San Jose 30: Krakow leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow and San Jose are level on 48.
Affordability. Krakow 72, San Jose 20: Krakow leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, San Jose 38: Krakow leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow 36, San Jose 30: Krakow leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Krakow
Best match
58match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowSan Jose
City population804,2371,013,240
People per km²2,4592,167
Museums within 10 km11319
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 Jose 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.