VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Paris 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 Paris for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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. Paris 9, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, San Francisco 82: Paris leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, San Francisco 68: Paris leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, San Francisco 58: Paris leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, San Francisco 72: Paris leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, San Francisco 66: Paris leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, San Francisco 70: Paris leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, San Francisco 58: Paris leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, San Francisco 14: Paris leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, San Francisco 76: Paris leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Paris in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ParisSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisSan Francisco
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation27 m16 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisSan Francisco
City population2,103,778873,965
People per km²19,9601,455
Museums within 10 km25151
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Paris 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.