VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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. Kyoto 15, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, San Sebastian 52: Kyoto leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, San Sebastian 80: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, San Sebastian 66: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, San Sebastian 40: Kyoto leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, San Sebastian 32: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, San Sebastian 45: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, San Sebastian 50: Kyoto leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

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. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoSan Sebastian
Official languageJapaneseSpanish
CurrencyYen (JPY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119112
Elevation51 m6 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoSan Sebastian
City population1,463,723189,866
People per km²1,7683,118
Museums within 10 km7714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or San Sebastian somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.