VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Helsinki?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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, Helsinki 28: Annecy leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Helsinki 52: Helsinki leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Helsinki 60: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Helsinki 50: Helsinki leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Helsinki 58: Annecy leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Helsinki 62: Annecy leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Annecy 60, Helsinki 76: Helsinki leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Helsinki 86: Helsinki leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Helsinki 30: Annecy leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Helsinki 63: Helsinki leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Helsinki 82: Helsinki leads by 34 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Annecy
50match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness and live music and the arts 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

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecyHelsinki

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). Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecyHelsinki
Official languageFrenchFinnish, Swedish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation418 m17 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecyHelsinki
City population132,117694,392
People per km²1,9753,239
Museums within 10 km174
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Helsinki 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.