VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

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

San Sebastian or Victoria?

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
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Victoria for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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, Victoria 28: San Sebastian leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Victoria 50: San Sebastian leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Victoria 42: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Victoria 30: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 5 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Victoria 54: San Sebastian leads by 26 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Victoria 62: San Sebastian leads by 4 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Victoria 60: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian and Victoria are level on 40.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Victoria 34: Victoria leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Victoria 40: San Sebastian leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Victoria 48: San Sebastian leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Victoria.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Victoria
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianVictoria

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.

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianVictoria
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation6 m23 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianVictoria
City population189,86691,867
People per km²3,1184,711
Museums within 10 km146
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 Victoria 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.