VacationSelector
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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. Philadelphia 36, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Philadelphia 62, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Philadelphia 72, San Sebastian 52: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Philadelphia 55, San Sebastian 44: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Philadelphia 52, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Philadelphia and San Sebastian are level on 80.
Good for families. Philadelphia 68, San Sebastian 66: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Philadelphia 66, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Philadelphia 57, San Sebastian 40: Philadelphia leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Philadelphia 40, San Sebastian 32: Philadelphia leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Philadelphia 72, San Sebastian 45: Philadelphia leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Philadelphia 26, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Philadelphia and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PhiladelphiaSan 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. Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhiladelphiaSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation12 m6 m
Main airportPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhiladelphiaSan Sebastian
City population1,603,797189,866
People per km²4,3393,118
Museums within 10 km5414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Philadelphia 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.