VacationSelector
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Pisa 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 Pisa for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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. Pisa 58, San Francisco 25: Pisa leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Pisa 55, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Pisa and San Francisco are level on 68.
Nightlife. Pisa 40, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Pisa 62, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Pisa 92, San Francisco 72: Pisa leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Pisa 52, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Pisa 76, San Francisco 70: Pisa leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Pisa 38, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Pisa 55, San Francisco 14: Pisa leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Pisa 38, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Pisa 45, San Francisco 42: Pisa leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Pisa and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Pisa
57match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PisaSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePisaSan Francisco
Official languageItalian-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation4 m16 m
Main airportPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePisaSan Francisco
City population88,737873,965
People per km²4791,455
Museums within 10 km2751
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Pisa 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). 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. 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.