San Francisco or Vancouver?

1,289 km apart, in United States and Canada. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• San Francisco United States · best Apr, May, Jun
• Vancouver Canada · best Jun, Jul, Aug

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

• Cost of living — San Francisco: expensive, about 100% of the United States; Vancouver: moderate, about 83% of the United States.
• Currency — San Francisco: United states dollar; Vancouver: Canadian dollar.
• Plugs — San Francisco: type A and B, 120 V; Vancouver: type A and B, 120 V.
• Driving — San Francisco: on the right; Vancouver: on the right.
• Travel advice — San Francisco: no advice against travel; Vancouver: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

1,289 km as the crow flies, about 2h 29m in the air.Nonstop, about 11 a day · 3 airlines. By train, about 31h 10m · 11 · Greyhound US0501. By bus, about 27h 52m · Greyhound US0500 · FlixBus 2114.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• San Francisco or Boston
• San Francisco or Chicago
• San Francisco or Los Angeles
• San Francisco or Mexico City
• San Francisco or Miami
• San Francisco or New York
• San Francisco or Seattle
• San Francisco or Toronto
• Vancouver or Boston
• Vancouver or Chicago
• Vancouver or Los Angeles
• Vancouver or Mexico City

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.