VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Tromso?

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

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: San Sebastian leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Tromso 36: San Sebastian leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Tromso 27: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Tromso 38: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 20 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Tromso 14: San Sebastian leads by 66 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Tromso 45: San Sebastian leads by 21 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Tromso 60: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Tromso 15: San Sebastian leads by 25 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Tromso 11: San Sebastian leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Tromso 32: San Sebastian leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Tromso 38: San Sebastian leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Tromso.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianTromso

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). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianTromso
Official languageSpanishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation6 m20 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianTromso
City population189,86679,943
People per km²3,11832
Museums within 10 km148
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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