VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Split?

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

  • food and drink
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Split for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Split 57: San Sebastian leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Split 66: Split leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Split 52: Split leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Split 77: Split leads by 5 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Split 78: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Split 54: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Split 67: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Split 32: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Split 45: Split leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Split 37: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Split 40: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Split.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and getting around with your weighting.

Split
57match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianSplit

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). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianSplit
Official languageSpanishCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m0 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianSplit
City population189,866160,577
People per km²3,118-
Museums within 10 km1411
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Sebastian or Split 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.