VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • beaches

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. Los Angeles 60, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, San Sebastian 52: Los Angeles leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, San Sebastian 44: Los Angeles leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, San Sebastian 72: Los Angeles leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, San Sebastian 66: Los Angeles leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, San Sebastian 40: Los Angeles leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, San Sebastian 45: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, San Sebastian 50: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesSan 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. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m6 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesSan Sebastian
City population3,898,747189,866
People per km²2,9943,118
Museums within 10 km3914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
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 Los Angeles 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.