VacationSelector

Catania or Genoa?

Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

Your match

Catania
52
match

Wins on museums & heritage and year-round weather with your weighting.

Genoa
✓ Best match
56
match

Wins on sights concentration and beaches & swimming 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 Catania if you want warmth over a longer season, drier spring and summer months, and a base for heritage day trips out of the city, with August highs of 35°C.

Choose Genoa if you want a compact centre with far more to see on foot, and a coast that starts at the city itself, with many more beaches within easy reach.

Scoreboard

Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.

CataniaGenoa
Beaches & swimming. Genoa leads by 15 points.15
CataniaGenoa
Score5873
Swim season months54
Beaches 10 km537
Coast distance1 km0 km
Water distance1 km0 km
Places to eat. Genoa leads by 1 points.1
CataniaGenoa
Score4950
Restaurants within 2 km of centre637691
Effective number of cuisines within 2 km1414
Museums & heritage. Catania leads by 4 points.4
CataniaGenoa
Score5955
Museums within 10 km3447
Museums within 2 km of centre2733
Share of museums within 2 km %7970
Unesco sites within 50 km31
Nightlife. Genoa leads by 3 points.3
CataniaGenoa
Score4750
Drinking venues within 4 km537637
Drinking venues within 2 km of centre403419
Share of drinking venues within 2 km %7566
Nightclubs within 4 km1817
Nature & day trips. Genoa leads by 4 points.4
CataniaGenoa
Score3135
Protected land share 50 km %108
Landscape blanket share 50 km %00
Land share of disc %6161
Park area within 2 km11 hectares29 hectares
Good for families. Genoa leads by 2 points.2
CataniaGenoa
Score3638
Tourist attractions within 2 km2521
Park area within 2 km11 hectares29 hectares
Theme parks within 30 km10
Sights concentration. Genoa leads by 22 points.22
CataniaGenoa
Score3961
Notable places within 2 km37130
Min wikipedia languages55
Value for money. Catania and Genoa are level on 68.
CataniaGenoa
Score6868
Price level global64.964.9
Daily budget€155€155
Year-round weather. Catania leads by 4 points.4
CataniaGenoa
Score7773
Monthly daytime high15.8 °C to 34.5 °C11.7 °C to 27.9 °C
Monthly rainfall9 mm to 83 mm12 mm to 122 mm
Dry months53
0255075100

Where they differ

Catania runs warmer right through the year, with daytime highs of 16-35°C against Genoa's 12-28°C, and it is drier in the months you would want to be outside: five months at 40mm of rain or less, against three in Genoa.

Genoa packs about three times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, and has more museums, so a short stay needs less travelling. The sea meets the city at 0km from its centre, against 1km in Catania, and beaches are far more numerous.

Where they are alike

Eating out is where the two are closest: both have a similar number of restaurants near the centre and a similar range of kitchens, so neither city is the deciding factor there.

They are close on families and nightlife too. Catania has somewhat more attractions near the centre and one theme park within reach; Genoa has about three times as much park space. Genoa has somewhat more places to drink, nightclubs are comparable, and in both they sit near the centre.

Which traveller are you?

Swimmers should lean to Genoa: 37 beaches within reach and water starting at the centre. Catania answers with a slightly longer swimming season, five months of sea at 21°C or more against four.

A short-break sightseer is better served in Genoa, where about three times as many notable places sit within walking distance and museums are more numerous. Catania suits anyone willing to travel out, with three UNESCO-listed places in day-trip range.

Families will find both modest. Catania has more attractions near the centre and one theme park within reach; Genoa offers far more park space near the centre and a core you can cover on foot.

What the numbers don't tell you

The value figure is a national price level applied to both cities, so it is identical by construction and carries no information about which is cheaper. The €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either place.

Genoa's beach advantage rests on the number of beaches within reach, and those are busiest in July and August, exactly the months that suit its weather best. Catania's warmth is driven by summer highs of 34-35°C, which is more heat than some want, while its wettest stretch falls in November and December.

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.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Catania
16
16
19
21
26
31
34
35
30
26
21
17
Genoa
12
12
15
18
21
25
27
28
25
20
16
13
Sea temperature, °C
Catania
15
15
15
16
18
22
25
26
25
23
20
17
Genoa
14
13
14
15
18
22
24
25
23
20
18
16
Rainfall, mm
Catania
65
45
42
32
18
11
9
9
49
51
71
83
Genoa
58
41
47
67
40
26
12
20
72
101
122
89
Daylight, hours per day
Catania
10
11
12
13
14
15
15
14
13
11
10
10
Genoa
9
10
12
13
15
16
15
14
13
11
10
9
Sunshine, hours per day
Catania
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
10
7
6
5
4
Genoa
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
7
6
4
4

Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Catania: 1991-2020 normals, Catania / Sigonella (18.9 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).

WorseBetter

Catania is at its best in spring. May brings highs of 26°C with only 18mm of rain, and April is warm enough for the coast without the summer heat. Warmth holds into October, so the usable season is long at both ends.

Genoa's window is narrower and later. July and August are its strongest months, with highs of 27-28°C, the sea at its warmest and only 12-20mm of rain. Rain builds sharply after that, reaching 101-122mm in the late autumn months.

Getting there

Flying fromCataniaGenoa
RomeFCO, CIA
1 h 20 m
€38-50
CTA · 4 km
1 h 10 m
no fares
GOA · 7 km
MadridMAD
2 h 35 m
€133-162
1 stop
CTA · 4 km
2 h 0 m
€63-91
MXP · 137 km
IstanbulIST, SAW
2 h 10 m
€166-455
CTA · 4 km
2 h 40 m
€140-309
MXP · 137 km
New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA
9 h 15 m
no fares
CTA · 4 km
8 h 15 m
€542-635
1 stop
MXP · 137 km
AthensATH
1 h 35 m
no fares
CTA · 4 km
2 h 25 m
€91-99
MXP · 137 km
FrankfurtFRA, HHN
2 h 25 m
€101-146
1 stop
CTA · 4 km
1 h 15 m
€67-76
LIN · 119 km
BudapestBUD
2 h 0 m
€84-100
1 stop
CTA · 4 km
1 h 40 m
€39-54
MXP · 137 km
DubaiDXB, DWC
5 h 25 m
no fares
CTA · 4 km
6 h 10 m
€375-563
MXP · 137 km
ViennaVIE
2 h 5 m
€115-151
1 stop
CTA · 4 km
1 h 25 m
€65-131
MXP · 137 km
NaplesNAP
1 h 5 m
€44-56
CTA · 4 km
1 h 20 m
no fares
GOA · 7 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 2026-09 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

MeasureCataniaGenoa
Official languageItalianItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m20 m
Main airportCatania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCataniaGenoa
City population311,584558,745
People per km²1,7042,325
Museums within 10 km2551
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Distinct cuisines in the centre3041
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Catania or Genoa somewhere new.

Browse every destination we have measured

Sources

© OpenStreetMap contributors, data available under the Open Database Licence. Place counts include data from Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA Permissive 2.0), assembled from Meta, Microsoft, Foursquare and other providers. Notable-place counts from Wikidata (CC0), weighted by Wikipedia language editions. Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Scores follow rubric v2; snapshot generated 2026-08-31. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.