VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sofia by Jose Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Sofia?

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
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sofia for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Annecy leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Sofia 45: Annecy leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Sofia 60: Sofia leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Sofia 80: Annecy leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Sofia 60: Annecy leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Annecy 60, Sofia 40: Annecy leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Sofia 65: Sofia leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Sofia 38: Sofia leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 43 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Sofia 50: Sofia leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Sofia 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 Sofia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Annecy
50match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecySofia

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). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecySofia
Official languageFrenchBulgarian
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 m560 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecySofia
City population132,1171,213,134
People per km²1,9752,466
Museums within 10 km142
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 Sofia 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.