VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

San Sebastian or Vienna?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: San Sebastian leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Vienna 68: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Vienna 62: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Vienna 74: San Sebastian leads by 6 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 11 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Vienna 44: Vienna leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 51 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Vienna.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianVienna

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). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianVienna
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
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 m151 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianVienna
City population189,8662,028,289
People per km²3,1184,890
Museums within 10 km14152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km33
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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