VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rome 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 Rome for

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

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • families

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. Rome 50, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, San Sebastian 52: Rome leads by 47 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, San Sebastian 44: Rome leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, San Sebastian 72: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, San Sebastian 80: Rome leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, San Sebastian 40: Rome leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, San Sebastian 32: Rome leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, San Sebastian 45: Rome leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RomeSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

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. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeSan Sebastian
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation21 m6 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeSan Sebastian
City population2,748,109189,866
People per km²2,1353,118
Museums within 10 km17814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km73
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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