VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Francisco 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 Francisco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Toronto for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • families

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 Francisco 25, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Toronto 70: San Francisco leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Toronto 50: San Francisco leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Toronto 52: San Francisco leads by 28 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Toronto 50: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Toronto 65: San Francisco leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Toronto 72: San Francisco leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Toronto 33: San Francisco leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

Toronto
55match

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
13 °Csea
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoToronto

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

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoToronto
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
Elevation16 m76 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoToronto
City population873,9652,794,356
People per km²1,4554,434
Museums within 10 km5132
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

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