VacationSelector
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

San Sebastian or Zurich?

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
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Zurich for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: San Sebastian leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. San Sebastian 88, Zurich 53: San Sebastian leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. San Sebastian 52, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. San Sebastian 44, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Sebastian 72, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Day trips. San Sebastian 80, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Good for families. San Sebastian 66, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 10 points.
Getting around. San Sebastian 80, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. San Sebastian 40, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 26 points.
Affordability. San Sebastian 32, Zurich 3: San Sebastian leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Sebastian 45, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Sebastian 50, Zurich 58: Zurich 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 Zurich.

Your match

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

San Sebastian
60match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on shopping 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
San SebastianZurich

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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan SebastianZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m408 m
Main airportSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan SebastianZurich
City population189,866440,935
People per km²3,1185,016
Museums within 10 km1463
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
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 Zurich 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.