VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Geneva or San Jose?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • prices
  • families
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: Geneva leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, San Jose 36: Geneva leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, San Jose 33: Geneva leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, San Jose 72: Geneva leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, San Jose 78: Geneva leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, San Jose 30: Geneva leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, San Jose 48: Geneva leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, San Jose 20: San Jose leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, San Jose 38: Geneva leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, San Jose 30: Geneva leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and San Jose.

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.

San Jose
45match

Wins on prices and families 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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaSan Jose
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, Romansh-
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation403 m25 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaSan Jose
City population211,1521,013,240
People per km²13,2802,167
Museums within 10 km3419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or San Jose 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.