VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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. Rio de Janeiro 92, San Sebastian 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, San Sebastian 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, San Sebastian 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, San Sebastian 72: Rio de Janeiro leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, San Sebastian 40: Rio de Janeiro leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, San Sebastian 32: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, San Sebastian 45: Rio de Janeiro leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Rio de Janeiro
62match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroSan Sebastian
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCN60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112
Elevation31 m6 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroSan Sebastian
City population6,211,223189,866
People per km²4,9303,118
Museums within 10 km6914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or San Sebastian somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. 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.