Genoa or Venice?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on nature & day trips and nightlife with your weighting.
Wins on sights concentration and good for families 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 the sea at the centre rather than a journey out to it, evenings with more choice of bars, green space and protected country within reach, and a dry high summer.
Choose Venice if you would rather walk between museums and monuments than travel to them, and if you are travelling with children who will use its attractions and 3 theme parks.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Genoa leads by 4 points.4
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 69 |
| Swim season months | 4 | 4 |
| Beaches 10 km | 37 | 20 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 4 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | 4 km |
Places to eat. Genoa leads by 5 points.5
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 45 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 691 | 750 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 14 | 10 |
Museums & heritage. Venice leads by 17 points.17
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 72 |
| Museums within 10 km | 47 | 57 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 33 | 45 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 70 | 79 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
Nightlife. Genoa leads by 15 points.15
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 35 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 637 | 342 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 419 | 306 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 66 | 89 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 17 | 3 |
Nature & day trips. Genoa leads by 18 points.18
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 17 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 8 | 4 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 61 | 70 |
| Park area within 2 km | 29 hectares | 15 hectares |
Good for families. Venice leads by 19 points.19
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 38 | 57 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 21 | 72 |
| Park area within 2 km | 29 hectares | 15 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 3 |
Sights concentration. Venice leads by 22 points.22
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 61 | 83 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 130 | 464 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Genoa and Venice are level on 68.
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Genoa leads by 7 points.7
| Genoa | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 66 |
| Monthly daytime high | 11.7 °C to 27.9 °C | 8 °C to 30.4 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 12 mm to 122 mm | 36 mm to 106 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 2 |
Where they differ
Genoa is the one with somewhere to go beyond the streets: 8% of the surrounding land is protected against 4% around Venice, and there is about twice as much park space near the centre, which counts for a lot if children need room to run between sights.
Venice holds about three times as many notable places within walking distance of its centre, so days involve less travelling. It also has about three times as many tourist attractions near the centre, plus 3 theme parks within reach where Genoa has none.
Where they are alike
Swimming is a genuine option in both. Each has four months with the sea at 21°C or more, peaking in August, and beaches within reach of the city rather than a long trip away.
Eating out is close as well: much the same number of restaurants near each centre, with Genoa covering a slightly wider range of kitchens. The weather calendars run in parallel too, both at their warmest in late summer and coolest in January, so the good season opens and closes at about the same time.
Which traveller are you?
Heritage travellers should take Venice: more museums, 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Genoa's 1, and about three times as many notable places within walking distance, so a short stay covers more on foot.
Families lean Venice too, with about three times as many attractions near the centre and 3 theme parks within reach where Genoa has none. Genoa answers with roughly twice the park space and easier swimming.
Anyone planning late nights should pick Genoa: about twice as many places to drink and many times as many nightclubs, most of them near the centre, with the sea 0km away.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. It is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Nothing here tells you which is the cheaper trip.
Elsewhere, strong figures hide timing. Venice's walkable concentration of sights is also a crowding problem, since one small core holds most of what visitors come for. Warmth and rain do not line up either: Venice's September stays at 25°C but is its wettest month at 106mm, and Genoa's mild autumn brings its heaviest rain.
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). Venice: 1991-2020 normals, Treviso / S. Angelo (26.1 km from centre).
Genoa is the pick in high summer. July and August bring highs of 27-28°C, sea at 24-25°C and only 12-20mm of rain, the driest stretch of its year. Its autumn stays mild but wet.
Venice warms earlier, 24°C in May and 28°C in June while Genoa is still cool, but it is wetter with it: 91mm in May against Genoa's 40mm. Its high summer runs hotter and damper than Genoa's, so late spring is the fairer trade.
Getting there
| Flying from | Genoa | Venice |
|---|---|---|
| MadridMAD | 2 h 0 m €63-91 MXP · 137 km | 2 h 20 m €102-159 VCE · 7 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 55 m no fares GOA · 7 km | 2 h 0 m €46-119 1 stop VCE · 7 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 30 m no fares GOA · 7 km | 1 h 40 m €68-109 VCE · 7 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 15 m €542-635 1 stop MXP · 137 km | 8 h 30 m €637-650 VCE · 7 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 40 m €140-309 MXP · 137 km | 2 h 20 m €148-150 VCE · 7 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 1 h 15 m €67-76 LIN · 119 km | 1 h 20 m €136-186 1 stop VCE · 7 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 35 m €78-142 MXP · 137 km | 2 h 55 m €122-127 VCE · 7 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 10 m €375-563 MXP · 137 km | 5 h 55 m €366-421 2 stops VCE · 7 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 10 h 10 m €710-815 1 stop MXP · 137 km | 9 h 55 m no fares VCE · 7 km |
| CancunCUN | 11 h 0 m no fares MXP · 137 km | 11 h 10 m no fares VRN · 113 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 | Venice |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 2 m |
| Main airport | Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre23 non-stop destinations | Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE)7 km from centre98 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Genoa | Venice |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 558,745 | 250,369 |
| People per km² | 2,325 | 602 |
| Museums within 10 km | 51 | 52 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 5 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 41 | 46 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | 4 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Genoa or Venice somewhere new.