VacationSelector
The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro, Paris
ParisThe Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Paris by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Paris or San Jose?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose San Jose for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 Jose 30: San Jose leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Paris 96, San Jose 56: Paris leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Paris 97, San Jose 36: Paris leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Paris 80, San Jose 33: Paris leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Paris 52, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Paris 92, San Jose 78: Paris leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Paris 79, San Jose 65: Paris leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Paris 88, San Jose 30: Paris leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Paris 98, San Jose 48: Paris leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Paris 25, San Jose 20: Paris leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Paris 88, San Jose 38: Paris leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Paris 40, San Jose 30: Paris leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Paris
Best match
70match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ParisSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureParisSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportCharles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureParisSan Jose
City population2,103,7781,013,240
People per km²19,9602,167
Museums within 10 km25119
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 Jose 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.