Santiago de Compostela or Seville?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on good for families and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Santiago de Compostela if you want a small city with green surroundings, more protected land and parks within reach, and you can travel in high summer, when highs reach 25°C and the rain finally eases.
Choose Seville if you want the larger place, with far more restaurants, bars and attractions near the centre, family outings included, and you plan around spring or autumn rather than 36°C summers.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Santiago de Compostela and Seville are level on 0.
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 0 | 2 |
| Coast distance | 26 km | 65 km |
| Water distance | 26 km | — |
Places to eat. Seville leads by 18 points.18
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48 | 66 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 336 | 1,370 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 23 | 22 |
Museums & heritage. Seville leads by 12 points.12
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 16 | 50 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 14 | 40 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 88 | 80 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 1 |
Nightlife. Seville leads by 26 points.26
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 62 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 306 | 1,089 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 268 | 679 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 88 | 62 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 13 | 57 |
Nature & day trips. Santiago de Compostela leads by 9 points.9
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 37 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 11 | 8 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 92 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 109 hectares | 82 hectares |
Good for families. Seville leads by 38 points.38
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 27 | 65 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 2 | 47 |
| Park area within 2 km | 109 hectares | 82 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Seville leads by 13 points.13
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 42 | 55 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 44 | 92 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Santiago de Compostela and Seville are level on 71.
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71 | 71 |
| Price level global | 60.8 | 60.8 |
| Daily budget | €122 | €122 |
Year-round weather. Seville leads by 13 points.13
| Santiago de Compostela | Seville | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 75 |
| Monthly daytime high | 11.3 °C to 25 °C | 16.3 °C to 36.2 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 41 mm to 223 mm | 1 mm to 78 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 5 |
Where they differ
Santiago de Compostela is the greener trip: 11% of the surrounding land is protected against 8% around Seville, with more park space near the centre, and 2 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Seville's 1.
Seville has many times as many restaurants near the centre and about three times as many places to drink, with far more nightclubs, most of them central. For families it also has many times as many attractions near the centre and 2 theme parks within reach, where Santiago has none.
Where they are alike
Neither is a swimming destination. Santiago de Compostela has no beach, and though Seville has 2 within reach, neither city gets a month of sea at 21°C or more; Santiago's own water tops out at 17°C in August.
They are close, too, on heritage, nature and what sits within walking distance: both have UNESCO listings within day-trip reach, museums for a wet day, and park space near the centre. The gap is one of scale, not kind.
Which traveller are you?
If you are travelling to eat and drink well, choose Seville: many times as many restaurants near the centre, far more bars and many more nightclubs, most of them walkable from the middle.
Families are better served in Seville too, with many times as many attractions near the centre and 2 theme parks within reach where Santiago de Compostela has none, though Santiago holds more park space near the middle.
Walkers and day-trippers should take Santiago de Compostela: 11% of the surrounding land protected against 8%, 2 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, and summer highs of 25°C for the drier weeks.
What the numbers don't tell you
The two share a value rating because it is a national price level, identical for both by construction. It is not evidence that they cost the same, and the comparison carries no information. The €122 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city, so price your own dates.
Seville's weather standing is an annual figure: it bundles mild winter days with high summer at 36°C, when midday walking is hard, and its wettest months are the mild ones. Beaches within reach do not mean swimming; neither city has a month of sea at 21°C or more.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Seville: 1991-2020 normals, Sevilla / San Pablo (8.1 km from centre).
Santiago de Compostela is at its best in July and August, with highs of 25°C and the year's driest weather. Late autumn and midwinter run over 200mm a month, which is a lot of wet walking.
Seville suits spring and autumn: 24-28°C in April and May with little rain, and 26°C still in October. High summer reaches 36°C with barely any rain, better for evenings than for sightseeing. Winter days stay mild at 16-18°C, though that is when the rain arrives.
Getting there
| Flying from | Santiago de Compostela | Seville |
|---|---|---|
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 40 m €71-184 SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 35 m €111-178 1 stop SVQ · 9 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 15 m €86-122 SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 10 m no fares SVQ · 9 km |
| PalmaPMI | 1 h 50 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 35 m no fares SVQ · 9 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 0 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 2 h 35 m no fares SVQ · 9 km |
| TenerifeTFS, TFN | 2 h 50 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 2 h 20 m €126-171 SVQ · 9 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 55 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 2 h 25 m €99-133 1 stop SVQ · 9 km |
| Las PalmasLPA | 2 h 45 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 2 h 15 m no fares SVQ · 9 km |
| ValenciaVLC | 1 h 35 m €114-174 1 stop SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 15 m €50-96 SVQ · 9 km |
| AlicanteALC | 1 h 40 m €218-283 1 stop SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 15 m €85-133 SVQ · 9 km |
| MarrakechRAK | 2 h 10 m no fares SCQ · 10 km | 1 h 30 m no fares SVQ · 9 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Santiago de Compostela | Seville |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | Spanish |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 260 m | 18 m |
| Main airport | Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre27 non-stop destinations | Seville Airport (SVQ)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Santiago de Compostela | Seville |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 100,965 | 689,423 |
| People per km² | 459 | 4,896 |
| Museums within 10 km | 6 | 24 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 38 | 52 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | – |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santiago de Compostela or Seville somewhere new.