VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Geneva or Vienna?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Vienna for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Geneva leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Vienna 62: Geneva leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Vienna 74: Geneva leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Vienna 62: Geneva leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Vienna 44: Vienna leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Vienna.

Your match

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

Geneva
57match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts 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
15 hdaylight a day

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaVienna
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation403 m151 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaVienna
City population211,1522,028,289
People per km²13,2804,890
Museums within 10 km34152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23

Where else could you go?

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