VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Scottsdale?

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
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: San Sebastian leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Scottsdale 46: San Sebastian leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Scottsdale 38: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Scottsdale 68: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Scottsdale 50: San Sebastian leads by 30 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Scottsdale 60: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Scottsdale 20: San Sebastian leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian and Scottsdale are level on 32.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Scottsdale 40: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Scottsdale.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianScottsdale
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m380 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianScottsdale
City population189,866241,361
People per km²3,118-
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
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 Scottsdale 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.