VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Shanghai?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: San Sebastian leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian and Shanghai are level on 88.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Shanghai 25: San Sebastian leads by 47 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Shanghai.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianShanghai

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). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianShanghai
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation6 m4 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianShanghai
City population189,86624,870,895
People per km²3,1183,922
Museums within 10 km1445
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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