VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Geneva?

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 Amsterdam for

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

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

Choose Geneva for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Geneva’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. Amsterdam 25, Geneva 45: Geneva leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Geneva 55: Amsterdam leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Geneva 58: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Geneva 38: Amsterdam leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Geneva 82: Geneva leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Geneva 80: Amsterdam leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Geneva 57: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam and Geneva are level on 86.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam and Geneva are level on 68.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Geneva 5: Amsterdam leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Geneva 60: Amsterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Geneva 55: Geneva leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Geneva.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Geneva
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamGeneva

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamGeneva
Official languageDutchFrench, 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
Elevation-2 m403 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamGeneva
City population921,468211,152
People per km²4,20813,280
Museums within 10 km10134
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Geneva 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.