VacationSelector
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Positano 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 Positano for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • getting around
  • families

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. Positano 77, San Sebastian 68: Positano leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Positano 40, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. Positano 22, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Positano 22, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Positano 80, San Sebastian 72: Positano leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Positano 88, San Sebastian 80: Positano leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Positano 28, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Positano 35, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. Positano 45, San Sebastian 40: Positano leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Positano 10, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Positano 15, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Positano 45, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Positano and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Positano
42match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
PositanoSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

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. Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePositanoSan Sebastian
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation142 m6 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePositanoSan Sebastian
City population3,729189,866
People per km²4293,118
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km53
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Positano 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. 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.