VacationSelector
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

San Francisco or Valletta?

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
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. San Francisco 82, Valletta 55: San Francisco leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. San Francisco 68, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. San Francisco 58, Valletta 46: San Francisco leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Francisco 80, Valletta 56: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Day trips. San Francisco 72, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Good for families. San Francisco 66, Valletta 58: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Getting around. San Francisco 70, Valletta 62: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. San Francisco 58, Valletta 38: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Affordability. San Francisco 14, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Francisco 76, Valletta 44: San Francisco leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Francisco 42, Valletta 32: San Francisco leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
San FranciscoValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan FranciscoValletta
Official language-English, Maltese
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation16 m56 m
Main airportSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan FranciscoValletta
City population873,9655,197
People per km²1,4556,496
Museums within 10 km5116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone6 months

Where else could you go?

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