VacationSelector
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Diego or Split?

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 San Diego for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Split for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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. San Diego 72, Split 75: Split leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. San Diego 62, Split 57: San Diego leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. San Diego 50, Split 66: Split leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. San Diego 48, Split 52: Split leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Diego and Split are level on 77.
Day trips. San Diego 60, Split 78: Split leads by 18 points.
Good for families. San Diego 96, Split 54: San Diego leads by 42 points.
Getting around. San Diego 38, Split 67: Split leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. San Diego 44, Split 32: San Diego leads by 12 points.
Affordability. San Diego 26, Split 45: Split leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Diego 56, Split 37: San Diego leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Diego 45, Split 40: San Diego leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

San Diego
56match

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

Split
57match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
San DiegoSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan DiegoSplit
Official language-Croatian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation129 m0 m
Main airportSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan DiegoSplit
City population1,386,932160,577
People per km²1,438-
Museums within 10 km2611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Diego or Split 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). 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.