VacationSelector
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Quebec City 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 Quebec City for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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. Quebec City 18, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Quebec City 57, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Quebec City 70, San Sebastian 52: Quebec City leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Quebec City 42, San Sebastian 44: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quebec City 79, San Sebastian 72: Quebec City leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Quebec City 58, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Quebec City 64, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Quebec City 50, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Quebec City 45, San Sebastian 40: Quebec City leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Quebec City 45, San Sebastian 32: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quebec City 52, San Sebastian 45: Quebec City leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quebec City 55, San Sebastian 50: Quebec City leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Quebec City and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Quebec City
53match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches 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.

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Quebec CitySan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

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. Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuebec CitySan Sebastian
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation98 m6 m
Main airportQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuebec CitySan Sebastian
City population574,482189,866
People per km²1,1843,118
Museums within 10 km1614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Quebec City 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.