VacationSelector
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Reykjavik 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 Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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. Reykjavik 12, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Reykjavik 42, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Reykjavik 25, San Sebastian 52: San Sebastian leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Reykjavik 45, San Sebastian 44: Reykjavik leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Reykjavik 92, San Sebastian 72: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Reykjavik 35, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Reykjavik 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Reykjavik 55, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Reykjavik 25, San Sebastian 40: San Sebastian leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Reykjavik 6, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Reykjavik and San Sebastian are level on 45.
Wellness & relaxation. Reykjavik 88, San Sebastian 50: Reykjavik leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Reykjavik and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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.

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ReykjavikSan 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. Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureReykjavikSan Sebastian
Official languageIcelandicSpanish
CurrencyIceland Krona (ISK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTCUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation8 m6 m
Main airportKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureReykjavikSan Sebastian
City population138,772189,866
People per km²5693,118
Museums within 10 km2314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Reykjavik 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). 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. 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.