VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Interlaken or Medellin?

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 Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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. Interlaken 30, Medellin 5: Interlaken leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 61 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Medellin 66: Interlaken leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Medellin 58: Interlaken leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Medellin 50: Interlaken leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Medellin 55: Interlaken leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Medellin 45: Medellin leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Medellin 80: Medellin leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Medellin 30: Interlaken leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Medellin.

Your match

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

Interlaken
41match

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

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenMedellin

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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.

Medellin 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenMedellin
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation571 m1,405 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenMedellin
City population6,1232,529,403
People per km²1,4246,644
Museums within 10 km314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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