VacationSelector
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Jose or Vancouver?

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 Jose for

  • day trips

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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 Jose 30, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. San Jose 56, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose 36, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. San Jose 33, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose 72, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 25 points.
Day trips. San Jose 78, Vancouver 45: San Jose leads by 33 points.
Good for families. San Jose 65, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Getting around. San Jose 30, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose 48, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Affordability. San Jose 20, Vancouver 27: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose 38, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose 30, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose and Vancouver.

Your match

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

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around 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 Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San JoseVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan JoseVancouver
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation25 m2 m
Main airportMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan JoseVancouver
City population1,013,240662,248
People per km²2,1675,759
Museums within 10 km1926
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Jose or Vancouver 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.