VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Santiago?

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 Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Santiago for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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 Sebastian 68, Santiago 12: San Sebastian leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Santiago 60: San Sebastian leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian and Santiago are level on 52.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 11 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Santiago 70: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Santiago 57: San Sebastian leads by 9 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Santiago 68: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 12 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Santiago 37: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Santiago.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianSantiago

Where the figures come from

San Sebastian's station stands 252 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianSantiago
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation6 m575 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianSantiago
City population189,8666,257,516
People per km²3,1187,468
Museums within 10 km1454
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Sebastian or Santiago 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.