VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Puerto Iguazu 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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Puerto Iguazu 5, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 54 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, San Francisco 80: Puerto Iguazu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 41 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, San Francisco 14: Puerto Iguazu leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 69 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

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

San Francisco
Best match
59match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Puerto IguazuSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Francisco
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911911
Elevation162 m16 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuSan Francisco
City population54,903873,965
People per km²-1,455
Museums within 10 km051
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.