VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Dresden?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Dresden for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Dresden’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, Dresden 10: Annecy leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Dresden 45: Annecy leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Dresden 79: Dresden leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Dresden 47: Dresden leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Dresden 74: Annecy leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Dresden 76: Dresden leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Annecy and Dresden are level on 60.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Dresden 74: Dresden leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Dresden 42: Dresden leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Dresden 55: Dresden leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Dresden 76: Dresden leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Dresden 42: Annecy leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Annecy
50match

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

Dresden
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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
15 hdaylight a day

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecyDresden

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.

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). Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecyDresden
Official languageFrenchGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation418 m126 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecyDresden
City population132,117562,764
People per km²1,9751,713
Museums within 10 km170
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Annecy or Dresden 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. 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.