Annecy or Zurich?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on value for money and year-round weather with your weighting.
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 Annecy if the trip is built around being outdoors: it runs warmer through the year, up to 27°C in July, with more protected land around it and lighter summer rain than Zurich.
Choose Zurich if you want a dense centre to work through on foot, with far more museums, a much wider range of kitchens and most of the bars and clubs close in.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Annecy and Zurich are level on 0.
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 9 | 23 |
| Coast distance | 260 km | 632 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Zurich leads by 21 points.21
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 67 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 343 | 974 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 30 |
Museums & heritage. Zurich leads by 26 points.26
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 30 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 76 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 5 | 37 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 56 | 49 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 1 |
Nightlife. Zurich leads by 34 points.34
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 20 | 54 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 140 | 676 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 120 | 553 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 86 | 82 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 6 | 74 |
Nature & day trips. Zurich leads by 1 points.1
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 37 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 20 | 16 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 19 | 9 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 48 hectares | 48 hectares |
Good for families. Zurich leads by 7 points.7
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 29 | 36 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 4 | 8 |
| Park area within 2 km | 48 hectares | 48 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Zurich leads by 36 points.36
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 23 | 59 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 15 | 119 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Annecy leads by 27 points.27
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 35 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 110.5 |
| Daily budget | €160 | €248 |
Year-round weather. Annecy leads by 6 points.6
| Annecy | Zurich | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 53 |
| Monthly daytime high | 5.1 °C to 26.8 °C | 3.6 °C to 24.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 55 mm to 94 mm | 60 mm to 128 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Annecy runs warmer through the year, with daytime highs of 5-27°C against Zurich's 4-24°C, and it gets more sun, 1927 hours a year against 1664. The national price estimates behind the two also differ, €160 a day against €248, country-level figures rather than city ones.
Zurich has many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, so more of a visit works on foot, and many times as many bars and nightclubs, most of them central. Its choice of restaurants near the centre is roughly three times Annecy's.
Where they are alike
Neither is coastal. Both sit by fresh water with beaches nearby, 9 around Annecy and 23 around Zurich, though neither has a month of water at 21°C or more, so swimming is a warm-day extra rather than a reason to travel.
They are also close on days out and on family use: protected land covers 20% of the area around Annecy and 16% around Zurich, park space near the centre is comparable, and both have theme parks within reach.
Which traveller are you?
Someone after museums, a wide range of kitchens and a late night should take Zurich, where the notable places cluster within walking distance of the centre and the drinking places and clubs are mostly central too.
Walkers and day-trippers are better served by Annecy: 20% of the surrounding land is protected against 16% around Zurich, afternoons reach 27°C in July, and park space near the centre matches Zurich's.
Families are a closer call. Zurich has about twice as many tourist attractions near the centre; Annecy has 3 theme parks within reach against 2, plus the drier summer, which counts when children are outdoors.
What the numbers don't tell you
The daily budget is a single national estimate of restaurant and hotel price levels, €160 for Annecy's country and €248 for Zurich's. It is not a measurement of either city, and a heavily visited city can sit further from its own national average than these two estimates sit from each other, so it should not settle which city costs you more.
Beach counts mislead here as well. These are lake shores, and neither place has a month of water at 21°C or more. The warmest months are also among the wettest, with Zurich taking 126-128mm in July and August.
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). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).
Annecy's clearest run is June to September, with highs of 24-27°C in high summer, 21°C in September, and monthly rain of 77-81mm, lighter than Zurich's over the same weeks. October is the wettest at 94mm and cools to 16°C.
Zurich is at its warmest in July and August at 24°C, though May to August each bring 119-128mm. Its driest months are January and February, 60-62mm, but highs sit at 4-5°C. April, 15°C and 80mm, is the drier compromise.
Getting there
| Flying from | Annecy | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 35 m €91-200 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 35 m €110-163 ZRH · 9 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 30 m €160-186 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 25 m €234-276 ZRH · 9 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 25 m €156-181 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 2 h 40 m €188-233 ZRH · 9 km |
| PortoOPO | 2 h 10 m €127-171 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 2 h 30 m €139-206 ZRH · 9 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 10 m €104-203 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 15 m €163-196 ZRH · 9 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 50 m no fares GVA · 38 km | 2 h 5 m €158-220 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 25 m €65-78 GVA · 38 km | 1 h 40 m €114-151 ZRH · 9 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 55 m €147-338 GVA · 38 km | 2 h 45 m €110-133 ZRH · 9 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 25 m €318-351 1 stop GVA · 38 km | 6 h 15 m €232-366 1 stop ZRH · 9 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 0 m no fares GVA · 38 km | 8 h 5 m €606-782 1 stop ZRH · 9 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 | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | French, German, Italian, Romansh |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Swiss Franc (CHF) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CJ230 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 | 408 m |
| Main airport | Geneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre140 non-stop destinations | Zürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre181 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Annecy | Zurich |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 132,117 | 452,421 |
| People per km² | 1,975 | 5,147 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 63 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 44 | 78 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Annecy or Zurich somewhere new.