VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Genoa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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. Cologne 14, Genoa 62: Genoa leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Genoa 72: Genoa leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Genoa 76: Genoa leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Genoa 42: Cologne leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Genoa 78: Genoa leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Genoa 83: Genoa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Genoa 64: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Genoa 66: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Genoa 48: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Genoa 55: Genoa leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Genoa 52: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Genoa 35: Cologne leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Genoa.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

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

Genoa
Best match
61match

Wins on beaches 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.

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
CologneGenoa

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. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneGenoa
Official languageGermanItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m20 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneGenoa
City population1,025,523558,745
People per km²2,5322,325
Museums within 10 km4051
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cologne 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.