Annecy or Paris?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.
Wins on sights concentration and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Paris if you want a city trip you can walk: many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, a much wider range of kitchens, and nightlife on a scale Annecy does not attempt.
Choose Annecy if you want a small town by water, with 9 beaches nearby and summer highs of 27°C, and you would rather spend the day outdoors than in galleries.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Annecy and Paris are level on 0.
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 9 | 2 |
| Coast distance | 260 km | 149 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Paris leads by 44 points.44
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 90 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 343 | 4,732 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 33 |
Museums & heritage. Paris leads by 46 points.46
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 30 | 76 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 185 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 5 | 65 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 56 | 35 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
Nightlife. Paris leads by 68 points.68
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 20 | 88 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 140 | 3,796 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 120 | 1,694 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 86 | 45 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 6 | 201 |
Nature & day trips. Paris leads by 12 points.12
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 48 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 20 | 28 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 19 | 26 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 48 hectares | 82 hectares |
Good for families. Paris leads by 46 points.46
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 29 | 75 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 4 | 89 |
| Park area within 2 km | 48 hectares | 82 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 3 |
Sights concentration. Paris leads by 71 points.71
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 23 | 94 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 15 | 865 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Annecy and Paris are level on 62.
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 62 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 73.7 |
| Daily budget | €160 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Paris leads by 7 points.7
| Annecy | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 66 |
| Monthly daytime high | 5.1 °C to 26.8 °C | 7.8 °C to 26 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 55 mm to 94 mm | 38 mm to 75 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 1 |
Where they differ
Annecy is the smaller place, and what it has over Paris is water: 9 beaches nearby against 2, and summers that run slightly warmer, up to 27°C in July where Paris tops out at 26°C in August.
Paris has many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, many times as many bars and clubs, and many times as many museums. It also has 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Annecy's 2, and a far wider range of kitchens near the centre.
Where they are alike
Neither is a swimming destination in the sea sense: neither has a month of sea at 21°C or more, so swimming here means inland water in summer.
Their weather runs close, too. Both peak in July and August at 26-27°C and both fall to 5-8°C in January, and both sit near open country, with a fifth of the land around Annecy protected and rather more around Paris.
Which traveller are you?
If you are going for museums and old buildings, Paris: many times as many museums as Annecy, and 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against 2, with much of it walkable from the centre.
Families are better served in Paris, which has many times as many tourist attractions near the centre and about twice as much park space, though both have 3 theme parks within reach.
If you want to swim and walk, Annecy: 9 beaches nearby and highs of 24-27°C from June to August, in a town where the bars and sights sit close together.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information: it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €160 a day beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Neither is the cheaper trip on this evidence.
The dataset carries no sunshine figure for Paris, because no nearby station records it. That side of the weather comparison is unmeasured, and Paris's monthly picture rests on temperature and rainfall alone. Annecy's beach count describes lake shore, not sea: neither city has a month of sea at 21°C or more.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Annecy: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (39 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).
Annecy is at its best from June to August, with highs of 24-27°C and lake swimming, though summer rain runs 77-81mm a month and autumn is wetter still, at 87-94mm from September to November.
Paris holds up across a longer stretch. June to September brings 22-26°C with 51-58mm of rain a month, and its late winter and spring are drier than anything Annecy records, 38-45mm from February to April with highs of 9-17°C. Both cities sit at 5-8°C in January.
Getting there
| Flying from | Annecy | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 35 m €91-200 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 5 m €63-103 CDG · 22 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 25 m €156-181 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 2 h 20 m €138-242 ORY · 14 km |
| PortoOPO | 2 h 10 m €127-171 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 2 h 5 m €113-136 ORY · 14 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 50 m no fares GVA · 38 km | 1 h 55 m €107-141 ORY · 14 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 0 m no fares GVA · 38 km | 7 h 30 m €579-648 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 30 m €160-186 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 10 m €188-212 CDG · 22 km |
| NiceNCE | 1 h 0 m €64-114 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 30 m €86-132 ORY · 14 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 25 m €65-78 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 40 m €110-135 CDG · 22 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 25 m €318-351 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 6 h 50 m €292-389 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 10 h 20 m no fares GVA · 38 km | 10 h 20 m no fares CDG · 22 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Annecy | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | French |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CE230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 418 m | 27 m |
| Main airport | Geneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre140 non-stop destinations | Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Annecy | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 132,117 | 2,103,778 |
| People per km² | 1,975 | 19,960 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 251 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 44 | 169 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Annecy or Paris somewhere new.