VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Geneva or Kyoto?

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 Geneva for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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. Geneva 45, Kyoto 15: Geneva leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Kyoto 35: Geneva leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Kyoto 70: Geneva leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Kyoto 72: Geneva leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva and Kyoto are level on 60.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Geneva
57match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaKyoto
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshJapanese
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation403 m51 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaKyoto
City population211,1521,463,723
People per km²13,2801,768
Museums within 10 km3477
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. 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.

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.