VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Sao Paulo?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Sao Paulo 84: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Sao Paulo 60: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Sao Paulo 48: San Sebastian leads by 24 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Sao Paulo 47: San Sebastian leads by 33 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Sao Paulo 52: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Sao Paulo 44: San Sebastian leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Sao Paulo 25: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianSao Paulo
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation6 m760 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianSao Paulo
City population189,86611,451,999
People per km²3,1187,519
Museums within 10 km1490
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 Sao Paulo 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.