VacationSelector
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

New York 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 York for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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 York 50, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. New York 92, San Sebastian 88: New York leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. New York 89, San Sebastian 52: New York leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. New York 97, San Sebastian 44: New York leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. New York 55, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Day trips. New York 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Good for families. New York 70, San Sebastian 66: New York leads by 4 points.
Getting around. New York 82, San Sebastian 80: New York leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. New York 97, San Sebastian 40: New York leads by 57 points.
Affordability. New York 12, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. New York 99, San Sebastian 45: New York leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New York 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: New York and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

New York
Best match
71match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
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
New YorkSan 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 York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew YorkSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation25 m6 m
Main airportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew YorkSan Sebastian
City population8,804,190189,866
People per km²7,2563,118
Museums within 10 km15714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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