VacationSelector
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park
The beach promenade in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
Tel AvivThe beach promenade in Tel Aviv

Photos: San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tel Aviv by israeltourism, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

San Diego or Tel Aviv?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Tel Aviv for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Tel Aviv’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, Tel Aviv 86: Tel Aviv leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. San Diego 62, Tel Aviv 80: Tel Aviv leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Diego 50, Tel Aviv 57: Tel Aviv leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. San Diego 48, Tel Aviv 82: Tel Aviv leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Diego 77, Tel Aviv 52: San Diego leads by 25 points.
Day trips. San Diego 60, Tel Aviv 84: Tel Aviv leads by 24 points.
Good for families. San Diego 96, Tel Aviv 68: San Diego leads by 28 points.
Getting around. San Diego 38, Tel Aviv 64: Tel Aviv leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. San Diego 44, Tel Aviv 55: Tel Aviv leads by 11 points.
Affordability. San Diego 26, Tel Aviv 14: San Diego leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Diego 56, Tel Aviv 70: Tel Aviv leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Diego 45, Tel Aviv 35: San Diego leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Diego and Tel Aviv.

Your match

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

San Diego
56match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tel Aviv
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Tel Aviv in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
San DiegoTel Aviv

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). Tel Aviv: 1991-2020 normals, Bet Dagan (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan DiegoTel Aviv
Official language-Hebrew
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911Police 100, fire 102
Elevation129 m5 m
Main airportSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)13 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureSan DiegoTel Aviv
City population1,386,932467,875
People per km²1,4388,998
Museums within 10 km2698
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month7 months

Where else could you go?

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