VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Tirana?

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
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Tirana for

  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: San Sebastian leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Tirana 57: San Sebastian leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Tirana 42: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Tirana 62: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Tirana 64: San Sebastian leads by 16 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Tirana 40: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Tirana 54: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Tirana 32: San Sebastian leads by 8 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Tirana 76: Tirana leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Tirana 32: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Tirana 27: San Sebastian leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Tirana.

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 families with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 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 SebastianTirana

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). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianTirana
Official languageSpanishAlbanian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Lek (ALL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m110 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianTirana
City population189,866389,323
People per km²3,1189,314
Museums within 10 km1411
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 Tirana 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.