VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
Rozenhoedkaai and the Belfry, Bruges
BrugesRozenhoedkaai and the Belfry

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Bruges by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Bruges?

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 Annecy for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Bruges for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Bruges’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. Annecy 55, Bruges 28: Annecy leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Bruges 56: Bruges leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Bruges 75: Bruges leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Bruges 27: Bruges leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Bruges 40: Annecy leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Bruges 85: Bruges leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Annecy 60, Bruges 54: Annecy leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Bruges 78: Bruges leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Bruges 45: Bruges leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Bruges 36: Bruges leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Bruges 40: Bruges leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Bruges 40: Annecy leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Annecy
50match

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

Bruges
50match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Annecy in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Bruges in July

21 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecyBruges

Where the figures come from

Annecy 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.

Annecy's sunshine is measured 39 km from the centre, at Geneve-Cointrin.

Bruges 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.

Bruges's sunshine is measured 37 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Annecy: 2007-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Annecy / Metz-Tessy (4.4 km from centre). Bruges: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Zeebrugge / Zeemanshaard (15.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecyBruges
Official languageFrenchFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation418 m2 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)94 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecyBruges
City population132,117118,509
People per km²1,975840
Museums within 10 km138
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Annecy or Bruges 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.