VacationSelector
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Quito 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 Quito for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • 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. Quito 5, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Quito 54, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Quito 77, San Francisco 68: Quito leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Quito 40, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quito 86, San Francisco 80: Quito leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Quito 55, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Quito 32, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Quito 45, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Quito 40, San Francisco 58: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Quito 78, San Francisco 14: Quito leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quito 38, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quito 44, San Francisco 42: Quito leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Quito and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Quito
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on live music and the arts and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
QuitoSan Francisco

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 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. Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuitoSan Francisco
Official languageSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua-
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,850 m16 m
Main airportMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuitoSan Francisco
City population1,763,275873,965
People per km²4,7351,455
Museums within 10 km1651
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Quito 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.