VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Francisco 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 San Francisco for

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

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • getting around

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. San Francisco 25, San Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, San Sebastian 52: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, San Sebastian 44: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, San Sebastian 72: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Good for families. San Francisco and San Sebastian are level on 66.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, San Sebastian 40: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, San Sebastian 32: San Sebastian leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, San Sebastian 45: San Francisco leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, San Sebastian 50: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Francisco and San Sebastian.

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 Francisco
59match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches 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 Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

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. San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoSan Sebastian
Official language-Spanish
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
Elevation16 m6 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoSan Sebastian
City population873,965189,866
People per km²1,4553,118
Museums within 10 km5114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

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