VacationSelector
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Montevideo 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 Montevideo for

  • live music and the arts
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • 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. Montevideo 55, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Montevideo 57, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Montevideo 54, San Sebastian 52: Montevideo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Montevideo 50, San Sebastian 44: Montevideo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montevideo 34, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Montevideo 55, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Montevideo 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Montevideo 54, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Montevideo 36, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Montevideo 42, San Sebastian 32: Montevideo leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montevideo 57, San Sebastian 45: Montevideo leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montevideo 38, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montevideo and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Montevideo
49match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 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
MontevideoSan 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. Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontevideoSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation41 m6 m
Main airportCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontevideoSan Sebastian
City population1,302,954189,866
People per km²1,7853,118
Museums within 10 km3614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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