VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

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

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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. New Orleans 14, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, San Sebastian 52: New Orleans leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, San Sebastian 44: New Orleans leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, San Sebastian 40: New Orleans leads by 14 points.
Affordability. New Orleans 40, San Sebastian 32: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, San Sebastian 45: New Orleans leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

New Orleans
54match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansSan 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. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation-2 m6 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansSan Sebastian
City population383,997189,866
People per km²4233,118
Museums within 10 km1614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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