VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Francisco or Santiago de Compostela?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Santiago de Compostela 68: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Santiago de Compostela 45: San Francisco leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Santiago de Compostela 62: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Day trips. San Francisco and Santiago de Compostela are level on 72.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Santiago de Compostela 42: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Getting around. San Francisco and Santiago de Compostela are level on 70.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Santiago de Compostela 35: San Francisco leads by 23 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Santiago de Compostela 40: San Francisco leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco and Santiago de Compostela are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Francisco and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

San Francisco
Best match
59match

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

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoSantiago de Compostela

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). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoSantiago de Compostela
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 m260 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoSantiago de Compostela
City population873,965100,965
People per km²1,455459
Museums within 10 km516
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Francisco or Santiago de Compostela 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.