Como or Genoa?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nature & day trips with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and sights concentration 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 Como if you want a small base for days out rather than a city to explore: far more of the land around it is protected, and 8 UNESCO-listed places sit within day-trip reach.
Choose Genoa if you want the coast and a city with it: 37 beaches nearby, sea warm enough to swim in for four months, and many more restaurants, museums and bars close to the centre.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Genoa leads by 73 points.73
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 73 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 4 |
| Beaches 10 km | 8 | 37 |
| Coast distance | 156 km | 0 km |
| Water distance | — | 0 km |
Places to eat. Genoa leads by 25 points.25
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 25 | 50 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 259 | 691 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 7 | 14 |
Museums & heritage. Genoa leads by 9 points.9
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 55 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 47 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 6 | 33 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 67 | 70 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 8 | 1 |
Nightlife. Genoa leads by 26 points.26
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 24 | 50 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 213 | 637 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 143 | 419 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 67 | 66 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 1 | 17 |
Nature & day trips. Como leads by 5 points.5
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 40 | 35 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 23 | 8 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 5 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 61 |
| Park area within 2 km | 15 hectares | 29 hectares |
Good for families. Genoa leads by 23 points.23
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 15 | 38 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 6 | 21 |
| Park area within 2 km | 15 hectares | 29 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 0 |
Sights concentration. Genoa leads by 31 points.31
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 30 | 61 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 22 | 130 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Como and Genoa are level on 68.
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Genoa leads by 15 points.15
| Como | Genoa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 73 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.1 °C to 27.3 °C | 11.7 °C to 27.9 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 61 mm to 178 mm | 12 mm to 122 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 3 |
Where they differ
Como's advantage is what surrounds it: 23% of the land around it is protected against 8% around Genoa, and it has 8 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach where Genoa has 1. It suits days spent out of town.
Genoa gives you the sea, 37 beaches nearby against Como's 8, and four months of water at 21°C or more. It also packs many more notable places into walking distance of the centre, along with more bars and clubs, most of them close in.
Where they are alike
The two sit at the same price level, and that is a national figure applied to both rather than anything measured in either city, so cost will not decide between them.
They are also close on days out and on heritage. Both make workable bases for time outdoors, Como towards protected countryside, Genoa with more park space near the centre, and both have museums and historic buildings for a wet afternoon, though Genoa holds far more of them.
Which traveller are you?
A family with young children has more to work with in Genoa: roughly three times as many attractions near the centre as Como and twice the park space, though neither has a theme park within reach.
A walker after days out of town should take Como, where far more of the surrounding land is protected and 8 UNESCO-listed places sit within day-trip reach, against Genoa's 1.
Anyone who wants to swim and eat out should pick Genoa: 37 beaches nearby against Como's 8, sea reaching 25°C in August, and about three times as many restaurants near the centre.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information: it is a national price level applied to both, identical by construction, so it says nothing about which city costs more. The €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of Como or Genoa, and your own spending will depend on season and choices more than on which of the two you pick.
Warm does not mean dry in Como: its hottest months are also among its wettest. And Genoa's beaches only work in the window when the sea is above 21°C, which is also when the coast is busiest.
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. Como: 1991-2020 normals, Lugano (23 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).
Como suits June to August, with highs of 25-27°C, though those are also its wettest months, near 170mm of rain. May and September are milder but no drier. Winter is the driest stretch but cold, with highs near 7°C.
Genoa's window is wider and much drier. July and August bring 27-28°C on 12-20mm of rain, with the sea at swimming temperature. Autumn turns wet, above 100mm a month, so plan the coast for summer.
Getting there
| Flying from | Como | Genoa |
|---|---|---|
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 15 m €542-635 1 stop MXP · 34 km | 8 h 15 m €542-635 1 stop MXP · 137 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 0 m €63-91 MXP · 34 km | 2 h 0 m €63-91 MXP · 137 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 40 m €140-309 MXP · 34 km | 2 h 40 m €140-309 MXP · 137 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 35 m €78-142 MXP · 34 km | 2 h 35 m €78-142 MXP · 137 km |
| AthensATH | 2 h 25 m €91-99 MXP · 34 km | 2 h 25 m €91-99 MXP · 137 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 34 km | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 137 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 15 m €116-135 LIN · 43 km | 1 h 10 m no fares GOA · 7 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 45 m €48-103 MXP · 34 km | 1 h 55 m no fares GOA · 7 km |
| Sao PauloGRU, VCP, CGH, RTE | 11 h 50 m €1,114-1167 2 stops MXP · 34 km | 11 h 50 m €1,114-1167 2 stops MXP · 137 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 10 h 10 m €710-815 1 stop MXP · 34 km | 10 h 10 m €710-815 1 stop MXP · 137 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 | Como | Genoa |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Italian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 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 | 201 m | 20 m |
| Main airport | Milan Malpensa International Airport (MXP)34 km from centre203 non-stop destinations | Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre23 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Como | Genoa |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 83,184 | 558,745 |
| People per km² | 2,242 | 2,325 |
| Museums within 10 km | 9 | 51 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 8 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 22 | 41 |
| 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 Como or Genoa somewhere new.