VacationSelector
Whitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach
Palm BeachWhitehall, Henry Flagler's mansion, now the Flagler Museum
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Palm Beach by Khowald, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Palm Beach 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 Palm Beach for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • 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. Palm Beach 82, San Francisco 25: Palm Beach leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Palm Beach 47, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Palm Beach 45, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Palm Beach 32, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palm Beach 58, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Palm Beach 55, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Palm Beach 62, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Palm Beach 32, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Palm Beach 66, San Francisco 58: Palm Beach leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Palm Beach 12, San Francisco 14: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palm Beach 45, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palm Beach 55, San Francisco 42: Palm Beach leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Palm Beach and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Palm Beach
49match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around 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.

Palm Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Palm BeachSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Palm Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Palm Beach International (6.8 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalm BeachSan Francisco
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2 m16 m
Main airportPresident Donald J. Trump International Airport (DJT)6 km from centre42 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalm BeachSan Francisco
City population9,245873,965
People per km²3221,455
Museums within 10 km451
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Palm Beach 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.