VacationSelector
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

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

San Diego or Toronto?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Toronto for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: San Diego leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. San Diego 62, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. San Diego and Toronto are level on 50.
Nightlife. San Diego 48, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Diego 77, Toronto 52: San Diego leads by 25 points.
Day trips. San Diego 60, Toronto 50: San Diego leads by 10 points.
Good for families. San Diego 96, Toronto 74: San Diego leads by 22 points.
Getting around. San Diego 38, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. San Diego 44, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 22 points.
Affordability. San Diego 26, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Diego 56, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Diego 45, Toronto 33: San Diego leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Diego and Toronto.

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 beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Toronto
55match

Wins on getting around and shopping 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
San DiegoToronto

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). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan DiegoToronto
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation129 m76 m
Main airportSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan DiegoToronto
City population1,386,9322,794,356
People per km²1,4384,434
Museums within 10 km2632
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month1 month

Where else could you go?

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