VacationSelector
Vieux Nice and the Baie des Anges, Nice
NiceVieux Nice and the Baie des Anges
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Nice by Daniel Stockman, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Nice 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 Nice for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • wellness
  • families

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. Nice 75, San Sebastian 68: Nice leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Nice 66, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Nice 64, San Sebastian 52: Nice leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Nice 47, San Sebastian 44: Nice leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nice 80, San Sebastian 72: Nice leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Nice 87, San Sebastian 80: Nice leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Nice 57, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Nice 74, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Nice 55, San Sebastian 40: Nice leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Nice 35, San Sebastian 32: Nice leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nice and San Sebastian are level on 45.
Wellness & relaxation. Nice 40, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nice and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Nice
60match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on food and drink and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Nice in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
NiceSan 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. Nice: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (8 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNiceSan Sebastian
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m6 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)6 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNiceSan Sebastian
City population357,737189,866
People per km²4,9753,118
Museums within 10 km1714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Nice 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). 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. 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.