Genoa or Sorrento?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on sights concentration and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Genoa if you want a city to walk: many times more notable places within reach of the centre, a wider choice of restaurants and bars, and more attractions and park space for children.
Choose Sorrento if the holiday is built around swimming and excursions: 78 beaches nearby, warmer summer days at 31°C, and five UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Sorrento leads by 4 points.4
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 77 |
| Swim season months | 4 | 5 |
| Beaches 10 km | 37 | 78 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 0 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | 0 km |
Places to eat. Genoa leads by 31 points.31
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 19 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 691 | 249 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 14 | 5 |
Museums & heritage. Genoa leads by 18 points.18
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 37 |
| Museums within 10 km | 47 | 7 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 33 | 4 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 70 | 57 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
Nightlife. Genoa leads by 28 points.28
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 22 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 637 | 179 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 419 | 131 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 66 | 73 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 17 | 2 |
Nature & day trips. Genoa leads by 12 points.12
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 23 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 8 | 7 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 61 | 42 |
| Park area within 2 km | 29 hectares | 4 hectares |
Good for families. Genoa leads by 33 points.33
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 38 | 5 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 21 | 2 |
| Park area within 2 km | 29 hectares | 4 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Genoa leads by 51 points.51
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 61 | 10 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 130 | 7 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Genoa and Sorrento are level on 68.
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Genoa and Sorrento are level on 73.
| Genoa | Sorrento | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 73 |
| Monthly daytime high | 11.7 °C to 27.9 °C | 13.1 °C to 31.4 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 12 mm to 122 mm | 17 mm to 159 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 3 |
Where they differ
Genoa is the stronger city on foot: many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, about three times as many restaurants and a wider range of kitchens, and about three times as many places to drink. Families get many times as many attractions and far more park space near the centre.
Sorrento trades that for the coast and the region around it: 78 beaches nearby, sea at 21°C or more for five months, five UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, and a theme park.
Where they are alike
Year-round weather is where they line up most closely: both peak in August, both keep three months with 40mm of rain or less, and Sorrento runs only slightly the warmer of the two across the seasons.
Swimming is close behind. The sea is 0km from both centres, and each has a run of late-summer months warm enough to bathe in. They also sit at the same national price level, which tells you nothing about which of the two costs less.
Which traveller are you?
A traveller after museums, streets and dinner options should take Genoa: many times as many museums as Sorrento, most of them close to the centre, and about three times the choice of restaurants and bars.
A swimmer or day-tripper is better served by Sorrento: 78 beaches nearby, sea at 21°C or more for five months, and five UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach of a small town.
Families will find more to do in Genoa, with many times as many attractions and far more park space near the centre. Sorrento's one theme park is its only clear advantage here.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value figure is a national price level and is identical for both by construction, so it tells you nothing about which of these two costs less. The €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either place.
Sorrento's beach count sits beside a resident population of 15,400, so the best swimming weeks and the busiest weeks are the same weeks, on one stretch of coast. Autumn also reads warmer than it feels: November brings 159mm in Sorrento and 122mm in Genoa, and a warm month is not a dry one.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre). Sorrento: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (53.6 km from centre).
Genoa is at its best in July and August: highs of 27-28°C, sea at 24-25°C and only 12-20mm of rain across the two months, the driest stretch of its year. September turns wet and the season closes quickly.
Sorrento peaks earlier and lasts longer. May and June bring 24-28°C with rain falling to 29mm, which suits swimming and days out, and it stays warm into October, when the sea is still comfortable but the rain returns in quantity.
Getting there
| Flying from | Genoa | Sorrento |
|---|---|---|
| MadridMAD | 2 h 0 m €63-91 MXP · 137 km | 2 h 25 m no fares NAP · 30 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 40 m €140-309 MXP · 137 km | 2 h 5 m €167-197 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 55 m no fares GOA · 7 km | 2 h 35 m €90-167 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 15 m €542-635 1 stop MXP · 137 km | 9 h 0 m no fares NAP · 30 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 30 m no fares GOA · 7 km | 2 h 10 m €108-170 NAP · 30 km |
| AthensATH | 2 h 25 m €91-99 MXP · 137 km | 1 h 45 m €107-164 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 35 m €78-142 MXP · 137 km | 3 h 0 m €187-245 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 15 m €67-76 LIN · 119 km | 2 h 0 m €132-252 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| ViennaVIE | 1 h 25 m €65-131 MXP · 137 km | 1 h 40 m €125-207 1 stop NAP · 30 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 137 km | 5 h 35 m no fares NAP · 30 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Genoa | Sorrento |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Italian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 20 m | 50 m |
| Main airport | Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre23 non-stop destinations | Naples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Genoa | Sorrento |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 558,745 | 15,407 |
| People per km² | 2,325 | 1,541 |
| Museums within 10 km | 51 | 5 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 41 | 11 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Genoa or Sorrento somewhere new.