VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Geneva or Panama City?

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

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Panama City for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Geneva leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Panama City 74: Geneva leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Panama City 50: Geneva leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Panama City 45: Geneva leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Panama City 40: Geneva leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Panama City 52: Geneva leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Panama City 55: Panama City leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Panama City 34: Geneva leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Panama City 22: Geneva leads by 33 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Panama City.

Your match

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

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaPanama City

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaPanama City
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation403 m20 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaPanama City
City population211,1521,540,000
People per km²13,2805,600
Museums within 10 km3410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.