VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

San Francisco or Ushuaia?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: San Francisco leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Ushuaia 40: San Francisco leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Ushuaia 22: San Francisco leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Ushuaia 18: San Francisco leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 8 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Ushuaia 14: San Francisco leads by 58 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Ushuaia 40: San Francisco leads by 26 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Ushuaia 45: San Francisco leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Ushuaia 22: San Francisco leads by 36 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Ushuaia 10: San Francisco leads by 66 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Ushuaia 26: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

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 day trips with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoUshuaia

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). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoUshuaia
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation16 m23 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoUshuaia
City population873,96582,615
People per km²1,4553,592
Museums within 10 km515
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Francisco or Ushuaia 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.