VacationSelector
The cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, Milan
MilanThe cathedral from Piazza del Duomo
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Milan by Jiuguang Wang, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Milan 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 Milan for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • families
  • food and drink

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. Milan 20, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Milan 78, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Milan 78, San Sebastian 52: Milan leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Milan 66, San Sebastian 44: Milan leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Milan 65, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Milan 91, San Sebastian 80: Milan leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Milan 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Milan 79, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Milan 92, San Sebastian 40: Milan leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Milan 33, San Sebastian 32: Milan leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Milan 82, San Sebastian 45: Milan leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Milan 42, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Milan and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Milan
Best match
65match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Milan in July

30 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MilanSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Milan has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Milan's sunshine is measured 41 km from the centre, at Novara / Cameri.

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. Milan: 1991-2020 normals, Milano / Linate (8 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMilanSan Sebastian
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation138 m6 m
Main airportMilan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)40 km from centre208 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMilanSan Sebastian
City population1,354,196189,866
People per km²7,4533,118
Museums within 10 km8814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Milan 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. 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. 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.