VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

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

San Sebastian or Zagreb?

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 Zagreb for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: San Sebastian leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Zagreb 55: San Sebastian leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Zagreb 62: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Zagreb 60: San Sebastian leads by 20 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Zagreb 52: San Sebastian leads by 14 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Zagreb 70: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian and Zagreb are level on 40.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Zagreb 33: San Sebastian leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Sebastian and Zagreb.

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.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianZagreb
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 m127 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianZagreb
City population189,866767,131
People per km²3,118-
Museums within 10 km1427
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Zagreb 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.