VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Maastricht 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 Maastricht for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • 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. Maastricht 8, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht 60, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, San Francisco 72: Maastricht leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Maastricht 55, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Maastricht 74, San Francisco 70: Maastricht leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, San Francisco 58: Maastricht leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, San Francisco 14: Maastricht leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, San Francisco 42: Maastricht leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Maastricht
52match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MaastrichtSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtSan Francisco
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation49 m16 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtSan Francisco
City population120,227873,965
People per km²2,0001,455
Museums within 10 km2151
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Maastricht 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.