VacationSelector
The Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket, Phuket
PhuketThe Big Buddha on the hill above Phuket
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Phuket by Mussi Katz, CC0; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Phuket 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 Phuket for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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. Phuket 90, San Sebastian 68: Phuket leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Phuket 66, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Phuket 35, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Phuket 72, San Sebastian 44: Phuket leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Phuket 80, San Sebastian 72: Phuket leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Phuket 45, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Phuket 65, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Phuket 22, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Phuket 42, San Sebastian 40: Phuket leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Phuket 68, San Sebastian 32: Phuket leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Phuket 20, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Phuket 82, San Sebastian 50: Phuket leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Phuket and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Phuket
57match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Phuket in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
287 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
PhuketSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Phuket's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Phuket Airport.

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. Phuket: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1961-1990) normals, Phuket Airport (26.9 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePhuketSan Sebastian
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation19 m6 m
Main airportPhuket International Airport (HKT)27 km from centre85 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePhuketSan Sebastian
City population77,610189,866
People per km²6,4683,118
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Phuket or San Sebastian somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.