VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • wellness

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. Lisbon 50, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, San Sebastian 52: Lisbon leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, San Sebastian 44: Lisbon leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, San Sebastian 72: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, San Sebastian 80: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, San Sebastian 40: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, San Sebastian 32: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, San Sebastian 45: Lisbon leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lisbon and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
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.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °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
LisbonSan 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. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonSan Sebastian
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation100 m6 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonSan Sebastian
City population545,796189,866
People per km²5,4533,118
Museums within 10 km8014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.