VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chicago or Interlaken?

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

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Interlaken 25: Chicago leads by 55 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Interlaken 8: Chicago leads by 70 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Interlaken 15: Chicago leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Interlaken 78: Interlaken leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Interlaken 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Interlaken 22: Chicago leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Interlaken 8: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Interlaken 15: Chicago leads by 67 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Interlaken 40: Interlaken leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Interlaken.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoInterlaken

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoInterlaken
Official language-French, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m571 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoInterlaken
City population2,746,3886,123
People per km²4,5291,424
Museums within 10 km443
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Interlaken 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.