VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Genoa?

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 Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Genoa for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Genoa’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. Chicago 50, Genoa 62: Genoa leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Genoa 72: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Genoa 76: Chicago leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Genoa 42: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Genoa 78: Genoa leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Genoa 83: Genoa leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Genoa 64: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Genoa 66: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Genoa 48: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Genoa 55: Genoa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Genoa 52: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Genoa 35: Genoa leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Genoa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Chicago
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Genoa
61match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Genoa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoGenoa

Where the figures come from

Genoa 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.

Genoa's sunshine is measured 80 km from the centre, at Capo Mele.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoGenoa
Official language-Italian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m20 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoGenoa
City population2,746,388558,745
People per km²4,5292,325
Museums within 10 km4451
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Genoa 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.