VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Oslo or San Francisco?

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 Oslo for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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. Oslo 36, San Francisco 25: Oslo leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, San Francisco 80: Oslo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, San Francisco 70: Oslo leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Oslo and San Francisco are level on 14.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, San Francisco 42: Oslo leads by 18 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oslo and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Oslo
56match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on food and drink and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
OsloSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloSan Francisco
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi-
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation23 m16 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloSan Francisco
City population717,710873,965
People per km²-1,455
Museums within 10 km6051
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo or San Francisco 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.