VacationSelector
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie

Photos: Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Genoa or Ghent?

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 Genoa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Ghent for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Ghent’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. Genoa 62, Ghent 25: Genoa leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Genoa 72, Ghent 62: Genoa leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Genoa 76, Ghent 72: Genoa leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Genoa 42, Ghent 55: Ghent leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Genoa 78, Ghent 35: Genoa leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Genoa 83, Ghent 88: Ghent leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Genoa 64, Ghent 50: Genoa leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Genoa 66, Ghent 78: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Genoa 48, Ghent 50: Ghent leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Genoa 55, Ghent 38: Genoa leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Genoa 52, Ghent 60: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Genoa 35, Ghent 33: Genoa leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Genoa and Ghent.

Your match

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

Genoa
Best match
61match

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

Ghent
54match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Genoa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GenoaGhent

Where the figures come from

Genoa 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.

Genoa's sunshine is measured 80 km from the centre, at Capo Mele.

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre). Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenoaGhent
Official languageItalianFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation20 m12 m
Main airportGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenoaGhent
City population558,745272,657
People per km²2,3251,728
Museums within 10 km5130
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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

Browse every destination

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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.