VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Sarasota?

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
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Sarasota 44: Annecy leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Sarasota 28: Sarasota leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Sarasota 55: Annecy leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Sarasota 50: Annecy leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Annecy 60, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Sarasota 28: Annecy leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Sarasota 40: Sarasota leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Sarasota 30: Annecy leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Sarasota 45: Annecy leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Annecy and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Annecy
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

Wins on beaches 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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecySarasota

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.

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

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). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecySarasota
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation418 m7 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecySarasota
City population132,11754,842
People per km²1,975840
Museums within 10 km13
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Annecy or Sarasota 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.