VacationSelector
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Pisa 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 Pisa for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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. Pisa 58, San Jose 30: Pisa leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Pisa 55, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Pisa 68, San Jose 36: Pisa leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Pisa 40, San Jose 33: Pisa leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Pisa 62, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Pisa 92, San Jose 78: Pisa leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Pisa 52, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Pisa 76, San Jose 30: Pisa leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Pisa 38, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Pisa 55, San Jose 20: Pisa leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Pisa and San Jose are level on 38.
Wellness & relaxation. Pisa 45, San Jose 30: Pisa leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Pisa and San Jose.

Your match

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

Pisa
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on families 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.

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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PisaSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePisaSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePisaSan Jose
City population88,7371,013,240
People per km²4792,167
Museums within 10 km2719
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 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. 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.