VacationSelector
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Riga 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 Riga for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • 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. Riga 40, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Riga 52, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Riga 66, San Sebastian 52: Riga leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Riga 52, San Sebastian 44: Riga leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Riga 55, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Riga 60, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Riga 50, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Riga 68, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Riga 45, San Sebastian 40: Riga leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Riga 62, San Sebastian 32: Riga leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Riga 65, San Sebastian 45: Riga leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Riga and San Sebastian are level on 50.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Riga and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Riga
55match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 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

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RigaSan 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. Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRigaSan Sebastian
Official languageLatvianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m6 m
Main airportRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRigaSan Sebastian
City population588,911189,866
People per km²-3,118
Museums within 10 km1214
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 Riga 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. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.